Weekly Claims November 11

This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week by 10,000 to 446,500.

This is the lowest level for the 4-week moving average since January of this year September 2008 - an improvement over recent months, but still elevated - and still a sign of weakness in the job market.

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Unemployment Claims: Highest Since 11/09

In the week ending Aug. 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 473,000, a decrease of 31,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 504,000. The 4-week moving average was 486,750, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average of 483,500...

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 3,250 to 486,750. This is the highest level since November 2009.

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Weekly Unemployment August 19, 2010

Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 479,000

The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 5,250 to 458,500.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The 4-week average of initial weekly claims has been at about the same level since December 2009 (eight months) and the 4-week average of 458,500 is high historically, and suggests a weak labor market.

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Jobless Claims Increase

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Unemployment and Recession