by Calculated Risk on 5/10/2012 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending May 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 367,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 368,000. The 4-week moving average was 379,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 384,250.

The previous week was revised up from 365,000 to 368,000.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.

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 379,000.

This decline in the 4-week moving average followed for four consecutive increases.

And here is a long term graph of weekly claims:


This was close to the consensus of 366,000. This is two consecutive weeks with initial unemployment claims in the 360s, after averaging close to 390,000 over the previous 3 weeks.

All current Employment Graphs