Initial Jobless Claims rose 2,000 in the latest week, with 232,000 people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. Again, this reflects 232,000 new filers and we have seen Initial Jobless Claims top 200,000 every week since the start of February.

Meanwhile, the number of people still receiving benefits after their initial claim is filed remains elevated with 1.795 million Continuing Claims reported. This is well above the low of 1.289 million seen last September and this upward trend shows the difficulties many people are having as they search for new employment.