The Department of Labor reports this week’s jobless claims were mostly unchanged.
In the week ending August 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 366,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 364,000. The 4-week moving average was 363,750, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 369,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending August 4, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 4, was 3,305,000, a decrease of 31,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,336,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,303,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,306,000.
As is the case every week, these figures provide some insight into employment conditions in the overall economy, but are heavily manipulated and present a distorted picture.
@Not_Jim_Cramer notes that, as usual, last week’s figure was revised upwards. This continues the trend of upward revisions every single week in 2012.
Over time, the impact grows and is displayed more meaningfully here.
So it’s safe to assume the initial claims figure will be revised upwards by about 5k every week.
