In the week ending October 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 264,000, a decline of 23,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, and the lowest that figure has been since April 2000. The four-week moving average, a less volatile gauge of underlying labor market conditions, declined to nearly 284,000, a decrease of over 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised average and its lowest level in more than 14 years.
