by Calculated Risk on 4/21/2011 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending April 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 403,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 416,000. The 4-week moving average was 399,000, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 396,750.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims for the last 40 years. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week to 399,000.

This is the 8th consecutive week with the 4-week average below the 400,000 level (not by much).