WASHINGTON (Aug. 26, 2010) — Advance figures for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims totaled 473,000 for the week ended Aug. 21, down 31,000 from the 504,000 reported the week before, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ended Aug. 14 was 4,456,000, down 62,000 from the 4,518,000 recorded for the week ended Aug. 7, DOL said. The four-week moving average for unemployment was 4,508,750 for the week ended Aug. 14, down 28,000 from the 4,536,750 reported for the previous week.
This unemployment report was one in a series of recent, extremely mixed messages about the general health of the economy. On Aug. 24, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales fell 27 percent between June and July 2010, creating the lowest monthly figures for existing home sales since 1995.