by Calculated Risk on 3/15/2012 08:38:00 AM
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 351,000
The DOL reports:
In the week ending March 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 365,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,750, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 355,750.The previous week was revised up to 365,000 from 362,000.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNhe5EX-kXV9yN7brRyzC8T3ohDTZIr4oR98kApTv3tAxQ69LiLd_pY4EEVieDKyxzEssTDvR860GO36ELcQiOTmFCG01SKcO7QmdsO_2jZJb3RV9LMCiopuxNUynkf1MpjCm/s320/WeeklyClaimsMarch152012.jpg)
The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims was unchanged at 355,750.
The 4-week moving average is near the lowest level since early 2008.
And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZWPsBiwI0HHoQKoJWTRDbVEHrSB8G3f5EaPZPsAdFV1GM_J275Aa8hQspX9-SvKQZxeubMKlo3CLZAV2fG26vMjWHDq8tQ3spdO07whtJ6Kzy6NPqHqlK4ptGZJ4Rq38-Po67/s320/WeeklyClaimsLongMar152012.jpg)