by Calculated Risk on 9/19/2013 08:30:00 AM
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 309,000, Four Week Average lowest since October 2007
The DOL reports:
In the week ending September 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 309,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 294,000. The 4-week moving average was 314,750, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 321,750.The previous week was revised up from 292,000.
The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-NpGVih4lO4VsPdGKjNqCU8hjMJLEWGGFlsswJSvo-9zIawXJO3-9dEcqRJbs3uEchIvtOknZJjPmKQoY7SqHF8q51PDx-buC8fnqM6KtQk1KdmV4n2-Oy0zoNMICqs16o21y/s320/WeeklyClaimsSept192013.jpg)
The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 314,750.
The 4-week average is at the lowest level since October 2007 (before the recession started). Claims were below the 341,000 consensus forecast.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHnsagRzhw3Xu1HvFe1n7Sc2Kjlv7L7acW7PTspOEgCIN6moUsGhbQr23wr7sqjXe7pLOuZfnT3Dz7i7t5M1v8Xv2ugf78Qx9GLlhyphenhyphen_oeuZLoNEpArtGPZ39-qjCm5M-7Yh-10/s320/WeeklyClaimsLongSept192013.jpg)