Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decrease to 259,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending September 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 259,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 284,000 to 282,000. The 4-week moving average was 268,750, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the highest level for this average since June 4, 2016 when it was 269,500. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 263,250 to 262,750.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma impacted this week's claims.
emphasis added

The previous week was revised down.

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 increased to 268,750.

This was below the consensus forecast.

The report includes the reference period (includes the 12th of the month) for the September employment report - and suggests there was some impact of the hurricanes on employment in September.