Jobless claims: Another 744,000 Americans filed new claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Jobless claims: Another 744,000 Americans filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick·Reporter
Thu, April 8, 2021, 8:30 AM · 3 min read

New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly held above 700,000 last week to extend a rise from late March, despite other signs that rehiring has been taking place across the recovering economy.

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

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended April 3: 744,000 vs. 680,000 expected and a revised 728,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended March 27: 3.734 million vs. 3.638 million expected and a revised 3.750 million during the prior week

New weekly jobless claims data have generally been following a downtrend over the course of 2021, though they still remain elevated relative to historical trends. At 744,000, initial jobless claims remained well above the high of 665,000 new claims filed at the worst point of the Great Recession in March 2009. And the data continue to be choppy, with each of the last two weeks' worth of new claims unexpectedly rising off a pandemic-era low.

But overall, the latest claims data "have been improving lately, with a downward trend reported since early in January that generally has coincided with vaccine distribution and a reduction in new COVID-19 cases," JPMorgan economist Bruce Kasman wrote in a recent note. "Initial claims did jump in the latest weekly report, but the four-week moving average for regular state filings hit its lowest level in over a year."

A spate of better-than-expected labor market data corroborated these trends. The March jobs report showed a staggering 916,000 payrolls were brought back, and employment indexes in the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing and services indexes each advanced last month. Job openings reached a two-year high in February.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-april-3-2021-pandemic-175704861-180657616.html

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I just remembered that this came out today.

"From the source" coming up....

[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, April 8, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending April 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 744,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 9,000 from 719,000 to 728,000. The 4-week moving average was 723,750, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,250 from 719,000 to 721,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending March 27, unchanged from the previous week's revised rate. The previous week's rate was revised down by 0.1 from 2.7 to 2.6 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 27 was 3,734,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 21, 2020 when it was 3,094,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 44,000 from 3,794,000 to 3,750,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,862,000, a decrease of 105,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 10,750 from 3,978,500 to 3,967,750.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 20 was 18,164,588, a decrease of 50,862 from the previous week. There were 3,443,666 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 21-646-NAT

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

[Bayard]

2. I've been seeing ads on TV

Calling all workers--your country needs you for all these new infrastructure jobs coming up.

It is a wonderful thing!