Weekly Unemployment Claims Decline, but Record Continuing Claims

Click on graph for larger image. Weekly claims and continued claims since 1971.

In the week ending July 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 565,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 617,000.

The 4-week moving average was 606,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised average of 616,000.

The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week by 10,000, and is now 52,750 below the peak of 13 weeks ago. It appears that initial weekly claims have peaked for this cycle.

*but

Continued claims increased to a record 6.88 million.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending June 27 was 6,883,000, an increase of 159,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6,724,000.