by Calculated Risk on 2/02/2012 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending January 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 367,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 379,000. The 4-week moving average was 375,750, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 377,750.

The previous week was revised up to 379,000 from 377,000.

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 375,750.

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. The 4-week average of weekly claims has been moving sideways this year after trending down over the last few months of 2011.

All current Employment Graphs