Jobless claims: Another 248,000 Americans filed new claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 248,000 Americans filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, February 17, 2022, 8:31 AM · 3 min read

New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week, ending a three-week streak of improvements.

The Labor Department released its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the print compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended Feb. 12: 248,000 vs. 218,000 expected and a revised 225,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended Feb. 5: 1.593 million vs. 1.605 million expected, and a revised 1.619 million during prior week

Jobless claims have hovered around pre-pandemic levels for months now, holding near 2019's weekly average of approximately 220,000 new claims. In February last year, jobless claims were still coming in at a weekly rate of about 800,000 as virus-related pressures weighed on the labor market.

Initial jobless claims edged higher in January around the time that Omicron cases surged to a record level in the U.S. but have started to come down since then, albeit with some choppiness. Though the virus-induced impact appeared as a brief bump higher in the weekly jobless claims data, the latest monthly jobs report showed surprising resilience. Non-farm payrolls soaring by a much greater-than-expected 467,000 in January while the labor force participation rate rose more than expected.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-unemployment-claims-week-ended-feb-12-2022-185812481.html

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This is more than predicted.

Here are this morning's banner and yesterday afternoon's placeholder article:

COMING UP Jobless claims preview: Another 218,000 individuals likely filed new claims last week
Check back at 8:30 a.m. ET for results

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-unemployment-claims-week-ended-feb-12-2022-185812481.html

Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 218,000 American likely filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick
Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, February 16, 2022, 1:58 PM · 3 min read

New weekly jobless claims likely fell for a fourth consecutive week, with the number of those rendered newly unemployed dipping as Omicron infections eased following a surge across the U.S.

The Labor Department is set to release its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here are the main metrics expected from the print, based on consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended Feb. 12: 218,000 expected, 223,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended Feb. 5: 1.605 million expected, 1.621 million during prior week

Jobless claims have hovered around pre-pandemic levels for months now, holding near 2019's weekly average of approximately 220,000 new claims. In February last year, jobless claims were still coming in at a weekly rate of about 800,000 as virus-related pressures weighed on the labor market.

Initial jobless claims edged higher in January around the time that Omicron cases surged to a record level in the U.S., but have started to come down since then. But though the virus-induced impact appeared as a brief bump higher in the weekly jobless claims data, the latest monthly jobs report showed surprising resilience. Non-farm payrolls soaring by a much greater-than-expected 467,000 in January while the labor force participation rate rose more than expected.

"The Omicron wave triggered a brief but startling spike in initial jobless claims, but payroll growth slowed only marginally in January, and the initial data for February from Homebase point to a rebound," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note. "At the same time, we are becoming increasingly convinced that the long-awaited rebound in labor participation is now underway, especially among ....

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

The boilerplate of the report has been changed just a little. The program contact person and number have changed. The change was made six weeks ago. The report from six weeks ago was the first with the new name and number. The reports are shorter than before too. They used to be twelve or thirteen pages long. They are now ten pages long.

Hat tip to the new guy, Kevin Stapleton.

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 17, 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending February 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 248,000, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 223,000 to 225,000. The 4-week moving average was 243,250, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 253,250 to 253,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending February 5, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 5 was 1,593,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,621,000 to 1,619,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,626,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 1,634,500 to 1,634,000.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 29 was 2,063,567, a decrease of 36,295 from the previous week. There were 18,906,377 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

{snip the rest of the ten-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 22-280-NAT

Program Contacts:
Kevin Stapleton: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

[Bayard]

2. What I find annoying about these headlines,

And articles, is that they never give figures for new employment. Maybe that's not what they are reporting, but it makes me not want to read them.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. That will be out on the first Friday in March. NT

[Bayard]

4. Will be glad to see it!