The four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance was down by 3.2 percent in the week ended Feb. 26, while total initial jobless claims fell by 5.2 percent.

In its weekly report released today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the four-week moving average of jobless claims fell to 388,500 in the week ended Feb. 19, down 12,750 from the previous week's revised number.

The four-week average smooths the volatility of the weekly number of total reported claims. Total initial claims for the week ended Feb. 26 was 368,000, down 20,000 from the previous week's revised number of 388,000.