by Calculated Risk on 1/21/2010 08:31:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending Jan. 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 482,000, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 446,000. The 4-week moving average was 448,250, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 441,250.
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The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 9 was 4,599,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,617,000.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

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

The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 7,000 to 448,250.

This is just one week - and the weekly data is noisy - but the level is still relatively high and suggests continued job losses in January.