Jobless claims: Another 293,000 individuals filed new claims last week, reaching fresh pandemic-era

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 293,000 individuals filed new claims last week, reaching fresh pandemic-era low

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, October 14, 2021, 8:31 AM

U.S. states posted a much larger-than-expected drop in initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the number of those newly unemployed each week back toward their pre-virus pace.

The Labor Department released its jobless claims report Thursday morning. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended October 9: 293,000 vs. 320,000 expected, 326,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended October 2: 2.593 million vs. 2.670 million expected, 2.714 million during prior week

The latest jobless claims data reflected the smallest number of new filings since March 2020. New weekly jobless claims having been inching closer to their pre-pandemic levels over the past several months, reflecting a slowdown in firings, layoffs and separations as reopenings took place and demand for workers resurged.

Though the underlying trend in new jobless claims has been falling, some choppiness has returned to the data in recent weeks. Some economists attributed this to temporary disruptions around Hurricane Ida, which delayed many individuals from filing new claims until mid-September. The four-week moving average for new jobless claims — which smooths out volatility in the weekly data — increased by nearly 4,000 last week to reach 344,000. The prior week's moving average was also upwardly revised.

Continuing claims did come in at a fresh pandemic-era low in last week's report, however. These claims, which capture those still collecting benefits from regular state unemployment programs, dropped to 2.714 million at beginning of October. By comparison, continuing claims had averaged 1.699 million throughout 2019.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-october-180735901.html

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Placeholder alert and article at Yahoo! Finance from yesterday:

COMING UP Jobless claims: Another 320,000 individuals likely filed new claims last week
Check back at 8:30 a.m. ET for results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-october-180735901.html

Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 320,000 individuals likely filed new claims last week
Emily McCormick
Emily McCormick·Reporter
Wed, October 13, 2021, 2:07 PM

U.S. states likely posted a modest drop in initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the number of those newly unemployed each week back toward their pre-virus pace.

The Labor Department is set to release its jobless claims report Thursday morning. Here are the main metrics expected from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Initial unemployment claims, week ended October 9: 320,000 expected, 326,000 during prior week

Continuing claims, week ended October 2: 2.670 million expected, 2.714 million during prior week

New weekly jobless claims having been inching closer to their pre-pandemic levels over the past several months, reflecting a slowdown in firings, layoffs and separations as reopenings took place and demand for workers resurged. At the beginning of September, initial filings came in at 312,000, or the lowest since March 2020. However, this represented a level still about 100,000 greater than the average weekly pace from before the virus in 2019.

Though the underlying trend in new jobless claims has been falling, some choppiness has returned to the data in recent weeks. Some economists attributed this to temporary disruptions around Hurricane Ida, which delayed many individuals from filing new claims until mid-September. The four-week moving average for new jobless claims — which smooths out volatility in the weekly data — increased by nearly 4,000 last week to reach 344,000. The prior week's moving average was also upwardly revised.

Continuing claims did come in at a fresh pandemic-era low in last week's report, however. These claims, which capture those still collecting benefits from regular state unemployment programs, dropped to 2.714 million at beginning of October. By comparison, continuing claims had averaged 1.699 million throughout 2019.

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, October 14, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending October 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 293,000, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 326,000 to 329,000. The 4-week moving average was 334,250, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 344,000 to 344,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending October 2, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 2 was 2,593,000, a decrease of 134,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000. The previous week's level was revised up 13,000 from 2,714,000 to 2,727,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,737,750, a decrease of 30,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 2020 when it was 2,071,750. The previous week's average was revised up by 3,250 from 2,765,000 to 2,768,250.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending September 25 was 3,649,013, a decrease of 523,426 from the previous week. There were 24,902,586 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

{snip the rest of the twelve-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal relay).

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 21-1859-NAT

Program Contacts:
Thomas Stengle: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

[Johnny2X2X]

2. Good news and approaching normalcy

225,000 a week is normal.

We are already down to a 4.8% UE rate, the jobs creation record during Biden's first year is breaking records, but all you hear about is how last month's numbers disappointed.

We're going to do close to 7% growth this year. Biden is crushing it on the economy, but you wouldn't know it.

A reminder, Donald Trump was a total and complete economic disaster for the country, he had the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover and left the economy with the worst year for growth since 1947,

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Markets up big after the opening bell

DOW up 400, this will get zero news coverage, because only bad news gets covered right now.

DOW up over 10% on the year, do people even know it?

[MichMan]

6. Many people here are only happy when the markets plummet

That way they can rationalize how smart they are to not have anything invested in it while claiming it is "rigged" and the same as a "casino." They are silent when it does well.

[Mawspam2]

4. And yet jobs remain unfilled.

How could this be?
UI has run out for many and they refuse to take the same crappy jobs they once had.
There are 600k fewer bodies available since they are now dead.
It is "Strike-tober".

Discuss.

[Random Boomer]

5. 600k isn't really the right figure

Since deaths during 2020 skewed heavily toward older, and presumably retired people, we need to know the number of people who died who were working or at least of employable age. It's going to be a subset of 600k, but I honestly don't know how large that number might be.

[MichMan]

7. There are also younger people moving into the workforce every day as they come of age.