About 227,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week

The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment statistics on Thursday. It showed that about 227,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on March 5th -- a slight increase over the previous weeks total.

Here is the official Labor Department statement:

In the week ending March 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 215,000 to 216,000. The 4-week moving average was 231,250, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 230,500 to 230,750.