Unemployment continues at record pace!
NEW YORK - July 9, 2009 - According to the Department of Labor, 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 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.
Continued claims increased to a record 6.88 million.
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.
However the level of initial claims (over 600 thousand 4-week average) is still very high, indicating significant weakness in the job market.
As a reminder, when looking at this report, I'd focus on the 4-week moving average of initial claims, not continued claims.
