The number of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 13 fell by 5,000, or 1.1%, to 457,000 from the previous week's revised number of 462,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.

The four-week moving average of claims for the week ended March 13 fell by 4,250, or 0.9%, to 475,250 from the previous week's average of 475,500.