Initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped to a 49-year low in the week that ended Feb. 24, falling by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 210,000 from last week's downwardly revised 220,000, the Labor Department's latest report showed.
The four-week moving average stood at 220,500, down by 5,000 from last week's revised down average of 225,500.
Claims procedures continue to be affected by storm recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the Labor Department.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 1.4% for the week that ended Feb. 17. Insured unemployment rose by 57,000 to 1,931,000 for the week ended Feb. 17 from the previous week's downwardly revised 1,874,000.
The previous low point for initial claims was the first week of December 1969, when the figure was 202,000.
