Jobless claims: Initial filings dipped to a new pandemic era low last week [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Jobless claims: Initial filings dipped to a new pandemic era low last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, May 13, 2021, 8:30 AM · 3 min read

Initial unemployment claims dropped more than expected to a fresh pandemic-era low, with new filings inching back toward pre-pandemic levels as more vaccinated Americans return to work and in-person activities.

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

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended May 8: 473,000 vs. 490,000 expected and 498,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended May 1: 3.655 million vs. 3.650 million expected and 3.690 million during prior week

Weekly jobless claims have nearly halved since the start of 2021, and have fallen precipitously from their pandemic-era high of more than 6 million last year. The last several months' worth of marked improvements coincided with a fast-ramping vaccination program in the U.S., and widespread easing of social distancing restrictions across many states. Prior to the pandemic, new jobless claims averaged just over 200,000 per week throughout 2019.

Initial claims "are moving in the right direction," Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note on Tuesday. "The labor market is healing, and layoffs should ease further as the economy moves closer towards normal capacity."

But improvements in the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims figures belie some ongoing strain in the labor market, even as more businesses reopen. Friday's jobs report showed a sharply disappointing 266,000 jobs returned in April, for a print well below the 1 million payroll additions expected. And the economy remains more than 8 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, the data showed.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-may-8-2021-174616833.html