by Calculated Risk on 2/16/2012 08:30:00 AM
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 348,000
The DOL reports:
In the week ending February 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 348,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 361,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,250, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 367,000.The previous week was revised up to 361,000 from 358,000.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0YwGvzO4SkpMHrrLNAz1qEDnmasQzOmHW0kN-X4hfiJI_e6WahVaEhLJ7FIwpCn_cX_IE7inT0mMRFu0XNm-6xGBx5dWAZzCNb06ws9TTQDwx9hjUwQ5_dbuy0kdzmt6dqfGM/s320/WeeklyClaimsFeb162012.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 365,250.
The 4-week moving average is at the lowest level since early 2008.
And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh21-ySzLnyXKo2NhJkcbmYvHhYy-GeR2AeQHGyi6M3mf6D6coECcvH87BlpdtzQ_SuWZNaqc_60-QzCQnSEC5RxURWGjsfeyuUNlLxeKp6WW1VurZ4B5IxlBBICgrioi51Fp6m/s320/WeeklyClaimsLongFeb162012.jpg)
The 4-week average of weekly claims is still moving down and is now well below 400 thousand.