Jobless claims: Another 199,000 individuals filed new claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 199,000 individuals filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, November 24, 2021, 8:31 AM

New jobless claims fell far more than expected to set a fresh pandemic-era low last week, underscoring the present tight labor market conditions as initial unemployment claims near 2019 levels while job openings hold near record highs.

The Labor Department released its jobless claims report on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended November 20: 199,000 vs. 260,000 expected and 268,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended November 13: 2.049 million vs. 2.033 million expected and 2.080 million during prior week

The total number of new weekly filings fell to a fresh virus-era low for a seventh straight week. During the comparable week last year, initial filings came at well over 700,000. Claims also fell below their 2019 weekly average of approximately 220,000.

Continuing claims for regular state unemployment benefits have also drawn closer to pre-virus levels. After coming in at the lowest level since March 2020 last week, continuing claims also neared their 2019 average rate of about 1.7 million per week.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-november-20-2021-175525622.html

---

This morning's banner:

JUST IN
U.S. jobless claims hit new pandemic-era low
New weekly claims fall below 200,000

-- -- -- -- -- --

Here is the placeholder article from yesterday afternoon:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-november-20-2021-175525622.html

Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 260,000 individual likely filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Tue, November 23, 2021, 12:55 PM

New jobless claims likely set a fresh pandemic-era low last week, underscoring the present tight labor market conditions as initial unemployment claims near 2019 levels while job openings hold near record highs.

The Labor Department is set to release its jobless claims report on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Here were the main metrics expected from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Initial unemployment claims, week ended November 20: 260,000 expected and 268,000 during prior week

Continuing claims, week ended November 13: 2.033 million expected and 2.080 million during prior week

The total number of new weekly filings likely fell to a fresh March 2020 low for a seventh straight week. During the comparable week last year, initial filings came at well over 700,000. Still, however, claims are holding stubbornly slightly above the 2019 weekly average for new filings of approximately 220,000.

Continuing claims for regular state unemployment benefits have also drawn closer to pre-virus levels. After coming in at the lowest level since March 2020 last week, continuing claims also neared their 2019 average rate of about 1.7 million per week.

And if this week's jobless claims report comes in as expected with further improvement in both new and continuing claims, it would also bode well for November's monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This week's claims report coincides with the survey week for that data, which is due for release next week. Consensus economists expect that report to show non-farm payrolls rose by half a million in November, with the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.5% from 4.6% in October.

{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) Wednesday, November 24, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending November 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 199,000, a decrease of 71,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 15, 1969 when it was 197,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 268,000 to 270,000. The 4-week moving average was 252,250, a decrease of 21,000 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 500 from 272,750 to 273,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.5 percent for the week ending November 13, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised up by 0.1 from 1.5 to 1.6 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 13 was 2,049,000, a decrease of 60,000 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 29,000 from 2,080,000 to 2,109,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,117,000, a decrease of 47,500 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 7,250 from 2,157,250 to 2,164,500.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 6 was
2,432,281, a decrease of 752,390 from the previous week. There were 21,111,266 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 21-2071-NAT

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

[Bengus81]

2. More good news! People will go back to $12-15 per hour jobs instead of 7.25

[lark]

4. My son who has extreme social anxiety, got a job for $12/hr.

I'm sure he could do better, but looking for a job is so hard for him, causes him so much anxiety, that we are happy for this, for now. It's walking distance from where he lives, so he will save a lot of $$ and time and hassles with closing so hopefully he will be ok there. Everything is relative, so hope for him this works.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. WaPo finally got their breaking out

Weekly jobless claims plunge to 199,000, the lowest level in more than 50 years

By Taylor Telford and Aaron Gregg

Today at 8:43 a.m. EST

The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell to 199,000 — the lowest level since November 1969 — the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Claims sank by more than 71,000 from the previous week, notching the eighth consecutive week of declines and falling well below pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, average weekly jobless claims hovered around 220,000.

The drop in claims, a proxy for layoffs, was preceded by small decline the week before, which was upwardly revised to 270,000. It’s a stark contrast to this time last year, when weekly unemployment claims were still hovering around 700,000. A pandemic picture that was, up until recently, brightening, coupled with the protracted labor shortage, has cut down on layoffs that wracked the economy in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said he thinks the trend is likely to continue. “It is reasonable to expect that this proxy for layoffs should continue to improve, reflecting the overall strength of the job market and the need for many employers to retain or add to their workforces,” Hamrick said in comments emailed to The Post.

Hiring also strengthened in October, with the U.S. adding 531,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped from 4.8 percent to 4.6 percent. It remains a far cry from its pre-pandemic low of 3.5 percent in February 2020, but marks a significant improvement over the course of 2021. In January, the unemployment rate stood at 6.3 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/24/jobless-claims-pandemic/

[progree]

6. Fox headline: "Biden economy plunges to lowest level in 52 years as inflation & pandemic soar"

(actually I made that one up).

Weekly jobless claims plunge to 199,000, the lowest level in more than 50 years

[BumRushDaShow]

7. That's basically what they would write

Meanwhile the NYT ignored it and dove in with a Biden administration "miscalculation" hit piece. Nothing about today's numbers.

[progree]

8. Fox managed to surpass my made-up headline with a real headline. I thot I was exagerrating

but no...

Americans wake up to Biden's economic train wreck, Nov 24, 2021

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/americans-wake-up-to-biden-s-economic-train-wreck/vi-AAR6Df2?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Its just a 2-line intro to a video ... I didn't watch the video.

Probably all about a key economic statistic plunging below a critical 52-year support level as the Biden-Squad socialist experiment blah blah blah North Korea blah blah only worse blah blah

[BumRushDaShow]

9. LOL

They had to dig deep to find a "disaster headline" that was worse than the M$M ones.

[progree]

10. CNN: Rising inflation could lead to most expensive Thanksgiving in history

O.M.F.G, most expensive in ALL OF HISTORY.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rising-inflation-could-lead-to-most-expensive-thanksgiving-in-history/vi-AAR7B3X?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&pfr=1

and this right next to this article:

Record-Breaking Exoplanet With Insanely Extreme Orbit Is Totally Doomed
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/record-breaking-exoplanet-with-insanely-extreme-orbit-is-totally-doomed/ar-AAR65Ik?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

No mention that the Fed deliberately targets 2.0% inflation, making prices practically every year the highest in history. And if price rises fall to 1% or below, everyone is screeching OMG, DEFLATION IS COMING, DEFLATION IS COMING - people won't have an incentive to buy because they can just wait for a better price in the future blah blah ... North Korea .... only worse ... blah blah

[BumRushDaShow]

11. That's it.

Especially around the holidays. They have to have their clickbait because most people are tuning out the news.

I am actually shocked that the "A MARKET CORRECTION IS COMING!!!111!!!!1!!!!" hasn't started being trumpeted yet. I suppose it's coming.

[dalton99a]

5. Kick