U.S. Jobless Claims Rose to 419,000 Last Week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

ECONOMY U.S. ECONOMY

U.S. Jobless Claims Rose to 419,000 Last Week

Initial claims for jobless benefits increased 51,000, returning to a level last recorded in early June

By Bryan Mena
[e-mail]
Updated July 22, 2021 8:35 am ET

Jobless claims rose to 419,000 last week, returning to a level last recorded in early June.

With job gains and consumer spending at high levels, along with more Americans getting fully vaccinated, the economy has expanded robustly so far in 2021 and it is expected to continue into next year. The Delta variant of Covid-19, which has become the primary cause of illness tied to the virus, isn’t expected to jeopardize the U.S. economic recovery.

“I would expect more jobs to be created in the months coming forward,” said Alejandro Gutierrez-Li, an economist at North Carolina State University. He said that some employers, such as resorts and hotels, may lose workers to other growing industries as job openings trend at record highs.

U.S. employers added 850,000 jobs in June, the largest gain in 10 months, and workers wages rose briskly, more signs of a strengthening labor market. Economists surveyed in July expected employers to add an average of nearly 500,000 jobs a month over the next year, which would be a historically fast pace of employment gains.

The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits has been declining in recent weeks. About half of states have acted to end enhanced and extended unemployment benefits early. Under those pandemic programs, recipients are paid $300 a week on top of state benefits and allowed to receive payments for longer than the six months or less most states allow.

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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/weekly-jobless-claims-07-22-2021-11626901031?mod=e2tw

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I usually link to Emily McCormick at Yahoo! Finance. She must be on vacation this week.

The article in The Wall Street Journal. hasn't caught up with the tweet.

I will edit this.

Okay, now it has. Original post:

Jobless claims rose to 419,000 last week, returning to a level last recorded in early June

Link to tweet

[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, July 22, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending July 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 419,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 8,000 from 360,000 to 368,000. The 4-week moving average was 385,250, an increase of 750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,000 from 382,500 to 384,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending July 10, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 10 was 3,236,000, a decrease of 29,000 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 up 24,000 from 3,241,000 to 3,265,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,338,000, a decrease of 44,000 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 6,000 from 3,376,000 to 3,382,000.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending July 3 was 12,573,833, a decrease of 1,262,815 from the previous week. There were 32,935,470 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 21-1377-NAT

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

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. WRAPUP 1-U.S. weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increase

Emily McCormick must be on vacation. This is usually her assignment,

WRAPUP 1-U.S. weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increase

Thu, July 22, 2021, 8:34 AM

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but that likely does not suggest a material shift in labor market conditions, with another month of strong job growth expected in July.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 51,000 to a seasonally adjusted 419,000 for the week ended July 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 350,000 applications for the latest week.

The rise in claims likely reflects difficulties smoothing the data for seasonal fluctuations following the upheaval from the COVID-19 pandemic. In normal years, layoffs are usually expected to decline in the second half of July. Before the pandemic, summer factory closures were the norm in early July, especially in the automobile industry.

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Here's what had been expected:

New filings for unemployment benefits are estimated to have declined to another pandemic low, showing the U.S. labor market is steadily recovering

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