Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increased to 278,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending January 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 278,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 265,000 to 267,000. The 4-week moving average was 292,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 298,500 to 299,250.

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

The previous week was revised up to 267,000.

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 292,750.

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