Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decreased to 283,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending February 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 283,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 304,000. The 4-week moving average was 283,250, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 289,750.

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

The previous week was unrevised at 304,000.

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 283,250.

This was below the consensus forecast of 290,000, and the low level of the 4-week average suggests few layoffs.