by Calculated Risk on 6/02/2011 08:40:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending May 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 422,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 428,000. The 4-week moving average was 425,500, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised average of 439,500.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims for the last 40 years.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week to 425,500.

This is the eight straight week with initial claims above 400,000, and the 4-week average is at about the same the level as in January when there were fewer payroll jobs being added.