Initial Jobless Claims Up 12K

Initial claims moved higher but trends in today's report remain favorable. Initial claims rose 12,000 in the April 11 week to 294,000 vs a revised 282,000 in the prior week. But the 4-week average is little changed, up only fractionally to 282,750 which is nearly 25,000 below the month-ago comparison. This comparison points convincingly to improvement for the April employment report.

Continuing claims, reported with a week's lag, are also pointing to improvement. Continuing claims, in data for the April 4 week, fell a very sizable 40,000 to a new 15-year low of 2.268 million while the 4-week average fell 33,000 to 2.329 million. The unemployment rate for insured workers is unchanged for a third week at 1.7 percent.

There are no special factors in today's report though adjustments surrounding the Easter holidays often make for volatile week-to-week readings.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Initial jobless claims rose 14,000 in the week to 281,000 following a slightly revised decline of 21,000 in the prior week. But the 4-week average, which helps smooth out weekly bumps, was down for a 3rd straight week, 3,000 lower to a 282,250 level that was more than 20,000 below the month-ago reading. This was a sizable improvement and hints at bounce-back strength for the April employment report.