by Calculated Risk on 9/05/2013 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending August 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 332,000. The 4-week moving average was 328,500, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 331,500.

The previous week was revised up from 331,000.

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 330,500.

The 4-week average is at the lowest level since October 2007 (before the recession started).  Claims were below the 330,000 consensus forecast.

Here is a long term graph of the 4-week average of weekly unemployment claims back to 1971.