WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of initial jobless claims dropped last week in the United States, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
In the week ending March 16, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped by 9,000 to 221,000 from the previous week's revised figure, said the report.
The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 229,000 to 230,000, said the Labor Department.
The Labor Department's report also showed that the four-week average of initial claims, a method to iron out data volatility, increased by 1,000 to 225,000 last week while the previous week's average was revised up from 223,750 to 224,000.
The reading of jobless claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which signals a tight labor market in the United States. Even though tightness persisted in the labor market, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) released more dovish signals to the market.
The Fed on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged after concluding a two-day policy meeting, in a move that met market expectations and reflected the central bank's patient approach regarding monetary policy changes.
The Fed policymakers "now see 2019 growth at roughly 2 percent, with the unemployment rate remaining below 4 percent," and the core inflation rate, which omits the volatile food and energy prices, remains close to 2 percent.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, the Fed said it intends to conclude the reduction of its aggregate securities holdings at the end of September. The process, known as Balance Sheet Normalization, started in October 2017.
The reading of jobless claims once reached 202,000 in mid-September 2018, which was the lowest level since December 1969.
