by Calculated Risk on 11/17/2011 08:30:00 AM
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims: Four Week average falls under 400,000
The DOL reports:
In the week ending November 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 393,000. The 4-week moving average was 396,750, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised average of 400,750.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKuRqxcWeZMN332xO4asJwmZqcV7Vo-8ZAxXGBUxxWtF2w35E1Tj9MXRqvxpd8z1dZ9KWoU3cVxZdweCxnbaWE7xczwlUesuP-Id9WXrNZHGn-OE65_3VW5cy9dbAg9udV1vH/s320/WeeklyNov172011.jpg)
The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week to 396,750.
This is the lowest level for the 4 week average since early April - although this is still elevated.
And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbStLG5AFTq1fbAZtWmgpMTN8Nfy927GmckGmsh_LlRtgQ5X3_lmX2an7eytmmIeVC9Z7PdufCmWj8kfoVX0_8MiA3Y18DvEaZq0X04aGJBkm6DoEZNx8-5tOroLI5Chw5Z_RT/s320/WeeklyLongNov172011.jpg)