by Calculated Risk on 12/27/2012 08:30:00 AM
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 350,000, 4-Week average at low for 2012
The DOL reports:
In the week ending December 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 350,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 362,000. The 4-week moving average was 356,750, a decrease of 11,250 from the previous week's revised average of 368,000.The previous week was revised up slightly from 361,000.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1NiBR2ZQ1S_wG-6ZypmD7WSbgpK7PlTUD4GwD1RbUBN-5DshP3h9pRsCR1hzHA40Tts8sozV3pxrCSnXX7hi9dM8ueCs4iAkCfGhuoeBbRzU068w7fHp3NO-Yl2G-BYsYquOPQ/s320/WeeklyClaimsDec272012.jpg)
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 declined to 356,750.
The 4-week average is now at the low for the year. The previous low for the 4-week average was 363,000.
The recent spike in the 4-week average was due to Hurricane Sandy.
Weekly claims were lower than the 365,000 consensus forecast.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpm7ryp3KPhd7XXdZHh5A7qxyNWr_SMgYTu24zB0hTB3X6lP5Cd8n4bqdKZ1BGww66xmHUTb2mBFEj8C3cmzPJjtCzEPP-VM3cSV73q0vIsDZx_Y6_zoVoB0LUK3y8w8h8jhEdw/s320/WeeklyClaimsLongDec272012.jpg)
And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:
Note: There are large seasonal factors in December and January, and that can make for large swings for weekly claims. Still - it is nice finishing year at the lowest level for the 4-week average.