by Calculated Risk on 9/29/2011 08:30:00 AM
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline sharply to 391,000
The DOL reports:
In the week ending September 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 391,000, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 428,000. The 4-week moving average was 417,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 422,250.The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000 (there is a longer term graph in graph gallery).
![Weekly Unemployment Claims](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJStSzaI6YZjMmttLV3kpb0gxwbveSveNDzJrHgk6dUAILLnAPucc8avAVhWK4UlhSXpCr_qQiKz7uyVk_TTPuk3_CdjEoPB5DGe3C415O1JqwY36a4kTca62-1qytx_lOGUqP/s320/WeeklyClaimsShortSept292011.jpg)
The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims declined this week to 417,000.
This is the lowest level for weekly claims since early April, although the 4-week average is still elevated.