NEW YORK, March 8 (UPI) -- The four-week rolling average of first-time unemployment benefits was little changed in the week ending Saturday, the U.S. Labor Department said.
The four-week rolling average rose by 250 to 355,000, the department said.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits for the week rose by 8,000 to 362,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in January, down from 8.5 percent in December.
In the week ending Feb. 18, the highest insured unemployment rates were in Alaska at 6.5 percent, Rhode Island at 4.6 and Montana at 4.5.
In the week ending Feb. 25, the state with the largest increases in initial claims was Massachusetts with 3,475 more claims than the previous week. California had the largest decrease with 4,531 fewer first-time claims.
