As policymakers continue to negotiate over another round of fiscal aid, initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 853,000 for the week ending Dec. 5, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. While this likely overstates the trend because states needed to catch up on processing ... READ MORE >
initial jobless claims
Pre-holiday data deluge: A November to remember
A series of economic reports released on Wednesday captured the cross currents in the American economy: Jobless claims increase First-time jobless claims rose for the second consecutive week, with the top line increasing to 778,000 for the week ending Nov. 21, up from 742,000 previously, according to ... READ MORE >
Jobless claims: Data going wrong way as pandemic intensifies
Initial jobless claims increased by 742,000 for the week ending Nov. 14 as the pandemic intensified and lockdowns spread across the economy. Continuing claims increased to 6.37 million, while 20.3 million people remain on some form of unemployment insurance, according to Labor Department data released on ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: Modest improvement, but levels still elevated
First-time jobless claims continued to show modest improvement with the top-line figure arriving at 751,000 for the week ending Oct. 31. That is down 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 758,000, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. After adding in the 382,883 people who ... READ MORE >
First-time jobless claims decline to 787,000, implying modest improvement
The pace of first-time claims for unemployment insurance declined to an elevated 787,000 for the week ending Oct. 17, strongly suggesting that the economy is slowing in the fourth quarter. Continuing claims remained elevated at 8.37 million, which implies an insured unemployment rate of 5.7%, ... READ MORE >
Jobless claims continue to rise to highest level since August
U.S. labor market dynamics are clearly in an unusual place. The four-week moving average of first-time claims for unemployment insurance stands at 866,250, well above the monthly hiring pace of 661,000 posted in September and the highest since August. It will most likely be well above the top-line hiring ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention
Pandemic economics has brought about an interesting conundrum: The pace of firings in the economy remains above the monthly hiring data as the unemployment rate falls. Over the past six weeks, first-time claims for unemployment insurance have averaged 867,000, which clearly points to a stalling out of ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: Improvement stalls at elevated levels
It’s becoming clear that the improvement in the pace of firings has stalled as states continue to work through backlogs of claims for unemployment insurance and as filings for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance increase. There were 837,000 initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 26, ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims: No meaningful improvement in the pace of firings
The pace of first-time jobless claims over the past few weeks denotes some slowing in the easing of firings across the economy. The stalling out suggests that the easy gains of the recovery’s early stages are likely in the rear-view mirror and the hard work of digging out of the economic abyss lies ... READ MORE >
Initial jobless claims remain elevated at 860,000
The pace of firings in the U.S. economy remains well above anything observed during the Great Financial Crisis as 860,000 workers filed for first-time jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 12, a reflection of the deep scarring in the domestic labor market and economy. An additional 658,737 filed for ... READ MORE >