from Calculated Risk by CalculatedRisk
The DOL reports:
In the week ending January 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 377,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000.
The previous week was revised up to 356,000 from 352,000.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
Click on graph for larger image.
The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week to 377,500.
The 4-week moving average remains below 400,000.
And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:
Weekly claims have been bouncing around lately – January is a period with large seasonal adjustments and that can lead to some large swings – but the 4-week average of weekly claims have been mostly trending down.
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