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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims mostly unchanged, Four week average highest this year

by Calculated Risk on 6/21/2012 08:38:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending June 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 387,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 389,000. The 4-week moving average was 386,250, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 382,750.
The previous week was revised up from 386,000 to 389,000.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 386,250.

The average had been between 363,000 and 384,000 all year, so this is a new high for the year.

And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:

This was above the consensus forecast of 383,000 and suggests some renewed weakness in the labor market.


All current Employment Graphs