by Calculated Risk on 2/21/2013 08:36:00 AM
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 362,000
The DOL reports:
In the week ending February 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 342,000. The 4-week moving average was 360,750, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 352,750.The previous week was revised up from 341,000.
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 increased to 360,750 - the highest 4-week average since the first week of January.
Weekly claims were above the 359,000 consensus forecast.