Blue Line 4 Week Average
The market was expecting 365,000 vs the 371,000 reported. The more important 4 week moving average is up from 360,000 (reported last week) to 365,750 which rose despite downward revision in last week’s numbers.
It should be pointed out that Econintersect watches the year-over-year change on the 4 week moving average. There is some seasonality which seems to have migrated into the seasonally adjusted data – specifically there is a decline in unemployment in the last third of the year (see bottom graph below). The initial claims are 4.2% lower (degrading from 4.5% last week) than they were in this week in 2012. Claims remain elevated from the trend lines seen for most of 2012 until November.
From the Department of Labor:
In the week ending January 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 371,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 367,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,750, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 359,000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending December 29, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 29 was 3,109,000, a decrease of 127,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,236,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,197,250, a decrease of 26,000 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,223,250.
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims – 4 Week Average – Seasonally Adjusted – 2011 (red line), 2012 (green line), 2013 (blue line)