U.S. Jobless Claims Rise to One-Year High on Surge in New York

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

May 12, 2016 — 8:30 AM EDT
Updated on May 12, 2016 — 9:29 AM EDT

Applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased last week to the highest level since February 2015 as filings surged in New York.

Initial jobless claims rose by 20,000 to 294,000 in the week ended May 7, a report from the Labor Department showed Thursday. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a decline to 270,000.



A jump in filings in New York state may reflect striking workers at Verizon Communications Inc., spring break holiday at schools or a combination of the two. Economists will continue to monitor claims data in the coming weeks before concluding that the labor market is taking a bigger step back.

“New York accounted for most of the increase,” said Jacob Oubina, a senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York. “It’s not a clean read.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-12/u-s-jobless-claims-unexpectedly-rise-to-more-than-one-year-high

[closeupready]

1. Is the weekly unemployment benefit in New York still $405?

It hasn't been changed in literally decades now.

EDIT to say, it's now $420/week maximum benefit.

[whatthehey]

2. And anybody who has spent any time at all analyzing charts

Can still easily identify the regression line as decreasing even so. Also worth noting that 300k is typically the rule of thumb for "stay the course" numbers, with anything below that showing improving labor conditions. 290 < 300.


If that last point is the start of a trend, which by definition is entirely hypothetical, and it continues for another 3-4 data points, then maybe it's time to worry.