by Calculated Risk on 2/11/2010 08:35:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending Feb. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 440,000, a decrease of 43,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 483,000 [revised from 480,000]. The 4-week moving average was 468,500, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average of 469,500.
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The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 30 was 4,538,000, a decrease of 79,000 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 decreased this week by 1,000 to 468,500.

According to MarketWatch some of recent increase was due to administrative backlogs in several states:

With today's report, the official said the backlogs had been "washed out".

The current level of 440,000 (and 4-week average of 468,500) are still high and suggest continuing job losses.