Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decreased to 255,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending July 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 255,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 281,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 24, 1973 when it was 233,000. The 4-week moving average was 278,500, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 282,500.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

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 278,500.

This was below to the consensus forecast of 279,000, and the low level of the 4-week average suggests few layoffs. This was also the reference week for the BLS employment report, and suggests few layoffs during the reference week.