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Home > Coronavirus > Initial jobless claims: 17 straight weeks above 1 million

Initial jobless claims: 17 straight weeks above 1 million

Jul. 16, 2020 by Joseph Brusuelas

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Initial jobless claims remain stubbornly elevated, which implies persistent weakness in the domestic labor market as the economy absorbs further intensification of the coronavirus pandemic. This may cause further volatility in these numbers in the coming weeks.

The cumulative total of initial claims over the past 17 weeks has reached 51.3 million.

First-time jobless claims for the week ending July 11 increased by 1.3 million, bringing the cumulative total of initial claims over the past 17 weeks to 51.3 million, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. It is the 17th straight week that initial claims have increased by more than 1 million. Once one accounts for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, claims increased by 2.2 million.

Through the week of June 27, the total number of people on some form of unemployment assistance declined to 32 million, from 32.4 million previously. Through the week of July 4, there were 17.3 million people filing continuing claims, which implies an insured unemployment rate of 11.9%.

It is highly likely that various forms of unemployment insurance will expire in the coming days, so forward-looking investors should anticipate sustained initial claims data, with more than 30 million Americans remaining on some form of aid in the near term.

For more information on how the coronavirus is affecting midsize businesses, please visit the RSM Coronavirus Resource Center.

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Filed Under: Coronavirus, Economics Tagged With: coronavirus, Covid-19, initial jobless claims, Joseph Brusuelas, unemployment

About Joseph Brusuelas

@JoeBrusuelas

Joe Brusuelas, “chief economist to the middle market,” is the preeminent voice championing issues and policies facing midsize companies in the United States and around the world. An award-winning economist, Brusuelas has more than 20 years’ experience analyzing U.S. monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, international finance, economic indicators and the condition of the U.S. consumer.

A member of the Wall Street Journal’s forecasting panel, Brusuelas regularly briefs members of Congress and other senior officials regarding the impacts of federal policy on the middle market and the factors by which middle market executives make business decisions. He also frequently offers his insights on the U.S., Canadian and global economies in the financial media. In 2020, he was named one of the 100 most influential economists by Richtopia.

Before joining RSM in 2014, Brusuelas spent four years as a senior economist at Bloomberg L.P. and the Bloomberg Briefs newsletter group, where he co-founded the award-winning Bloomberg Economic Brief. Earlier in his career, he was a director at Moody's Analytics covering the U.S. and global economies for the Dismal Scientist website. He also served as chief economist at Merk Investments L.L.C. and chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal.

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