In what may be continued positive news for the residential housing market, unemployment insurance claims continued to fall and the figure is at another four-year low.
The U.S. Department of Labor showed in its Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report showed that initial claims dropped 5,000 to a total of 348,000 for the week ending March 17. Overall, the four-week moving average dropped 1,250 to the latest figure of 355,000.
"U.S. employment growth looks to have continued in March at a respectable pace," Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, told The Associated Press.
When looking at the previous week, the insured unemployment rate fell to 2.6 percent, according to the report. This was 0.1 percentage point down from one week earlier. Furthermore, for the week ending March 10, the number of those with insured unemployment was 3,352,000. This was a drop of 9,000 from the previous week's figure. In addition, the four-week moving average fell 13,000 to a total of 3,385,750.
The Commerce Department also noted in a separate report earlier this month that more Americans may be witnessing increased spending and incomes, which may continue to help improve the housing market.