Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decreased to 252,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending September 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 252,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000. The 4-week moving average was 258,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 260,750.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims. This marks 81 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970.

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

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 decreased to 258,500.

This was lower than the consensus forecast of 261,000. The low level of claims suggests relatively few layoffs.

from
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CalculatedRisk/~3/8vHOuWRH36w/weekly-initial-unemployment-claims_22.html