by Calculated Risk on 4/07/2011 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims:

In the week ending April 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 382,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 392,000. The 4-week moving average was 389,500, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 395,250.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims for the last 40 years. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week to 389,500.

This is the 6th consecutive week with the 4-week average below the 400,000 level. This is still elevated, and we'd like to see the number of initial claims continue to decline (and hiring pickup too). But this is a small positive step in the right direction.