by Calculated Risk on 2/17/2011 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending Feb. 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 410,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 385,000. The 4-week moving average was 417,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 416,000.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims for the last 10 years. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 1,750 to 417,750.

The 4-week average has been just above 400,000 all year after falling sharply during the last few months of 2010. Hopefully claims will fall below the 400,000 level soon.