Jobless claims: Another 779,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 779,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last week

Emily McCormick·Reporter
Thu, February 4, 2021, 8:30 AM

New weekly unemployment claims dropped more than expected last week, as layoffs and job losses steadied but remained at still historically elevated levels during the ongoing pandemic.

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main results from the report, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended Jan. 30: 779,000 vs. 830,000 expected and a revised 812,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended Jan. 9: 4.592 million vs. 4.700 million expected and a revised 4.785 million during the prior week

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a two-month low and dipped below 900,000 for a second straight week. Though initial claims spiked through most of December and January, they have started to come back down as states eased some restrictions put in place during the holiday COVID-19 spike in new cases.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/initial-jobless-claims-week-ended-jan-30-2021-coronavirus-pandemic-183029216.html

[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, February 4, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending January 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 779,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 35,000 from 847,000 to 812,000. The 4-week moving average was 848,250, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 18,500 from 868,000 to 849,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.2 percent for the week ending January 23, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 23 was 4,592,000, a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 14,000 from 4,771,000 to 4,785,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,881,750, a decrease of 120,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 3,750 from 4,998,000 to 5,001,750.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 16 was 17,835,525, a decrease of 486,405 from the previous week. There were 2,108,515 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 21-192-NAT

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

[BumRushDaShow]

2. You poor baby

None of the "usual" sources have been doing breaking banners on these so you have right plowed along with it! I expect they will come out of their hidey holes tomorrow morning though and I can try to get the thread up.

I did finally get my car dug out yesterday so trying to "rest" today.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Good morning. Emily McCormick seems to get this one every week.

It's sunny and not as cold today.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Sun's out here with not a cloud in the sky

after a literal 4 days straight of some kind of frozen precipitation falling from the sky. Hoping to start seeing some of the huge plowed mounds melting.

[seta1950]

5. I am now among the unemployed

Both my daughter and I were let go , I feel totally lost.

[DallasNE]

6. I Can't Make Sense Out Of Employment Data

Every single week since the pandemic hit the labor market the initial jobless claims number has been higher than the highest week during the Great Recession. So why is the unemployment rate below 7% with these awful initial jobless claims filings? It seems like the unemployment rate should be substantially higher than what is being reported. Also, 6 weeks worth of initial claims is greater than the continuing claims meaning most people must be finding new employment within 6 weeks otherwise the continuing claims number should be higher. Churn in the jobs market could account for some of this but the numbers just look off to me and by a substantial amount.