by Calculated Risk on 9/26/2013 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending September 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 305,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 310,000. The 4-week moving average was 308,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 315,000.

The previous week was revised up from 309,000.

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 to 308,000.

The 4-week average is at the lowest level since June 2007 (before the recession started).  Claims were below the 330,000 consensus forecast.

Here is a long term graph of the 4-week average of weekly unemployment claims back to 1971.

From MarketWatch:

A government official said Labor has been told by California that the state eliminated a backlog of claims that built up after computer-related processing delays.