Unemployment claims have fallen slightly for the third week in a row but there are still too many first time claims being filed to indicate that there have been significant job gains. Unemployment claims fell 5,000 to 457,000 according to the Labor Department. The four-week average of unemployment claims dropped to 471,250. Despite this the average has risen by 30,000 since the beginning of 2010. Average claim numbers remain in the 400,000-425,000 range and economists predict that unless these numbers decrease economic recovery will be slow going and new hiring sparse.

The number of people who are continuing to claim unemployment increased slightly to 4.58 million. This figure exclude those receiving extended benefits up to 73 weeks, in addition to the 26 weeks usually provided by states. Over 6 million were receiving extended benefits the week ending February 27. The total number of people receiving benefits is 11.2 million.