The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims : In the week ending July 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 464,000, an increase of 37,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 427,000. The 4-week moving average was 456,000, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 454,750. … The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 10 was 4,487,000, a decrease of 223,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,710,000. Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 1,250 to 456,000. The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The 4-week average of initial weekly claims has been at about the same level since December 2009 (eight months) and the 4-week average of 456,000 is high historically, and suggests a weak labor market.

Read more here – Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 464,000