Weekly jobless claims fell to fresh pandemic-era low of 290,000

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance
Weekly jobless claims fell to fresh pandemic-era low of 290,000

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, October 21, 2021, 8:32 AM

New weekly jobless claims held below 300,000 for a back-to-back week as labor market conditions trudge back toward pre-pandemic levels.

The Labor Department released its jobless claims report Thursday morning. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended October 16: 290,000 vs. 297,000 expected, 293,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended October 9: 2.481 million vs. 2.548 million expected, 2.593 million during prior week

Last week's initial unemployment claims fell by a far greater-than-expected margin, bringing the number of new filings back to the lowest level since March 2020. The four-week moving average for new jobless claims also dropped by 15,250 to reach 319,750 as of last week, also marking the least since March of last year.

The latest claims data reflects a labor market that has made considerable progress in reducing separations since its pandemic-era peak. However, it also still has a ways to go before returning entirely to pre-virus trends. In October 2020, new filings were coming in at a weekly rate of over 700,000, but in the same month in 2019, initial claims averaged just over 210,000.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-october-16-2021-193313259.html

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place holder alert and headline:

Jobless claims: Another 297,000 individuals likely filed new claims last week
Check back for results at 8:30 a.m. ET

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-october-16-2021-193313259.html

Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 297,000 individuals likely filed new claims last week
Emily McCormick
Emily McCormick·Reporter
Wed, October 20, 2021, 3:34 PM

New weekly jobless claims are expected to hold below 300,000 for a back-to-back week as labor market conditions trudge back toward pre-pandemic levels.

The Labor Department will release its jobless claims report Thursday morning. Here are the main metrics expected from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Initial unemployment claims, week ended October 16: 297,000 expected vs. 293,000 during prior week

Continuing claims, week ended October 9: 2.548 million expected vs. 2.593 million during prior week

Last week's initial unemployment claims fell by a far greater-than-expected margin, bringing the number of new filings back to the lowest level since March 2020. The four-week moving average for new jobless claims also dropped by 10,500 to reach 334,250 as of last week, also marking the least since March of last year.

The latest claims data reflects a labor market that has made considerable progress in reducing separations since its pandemic-era peak. However, it also still has a ways to go before returning entirely to pre-virus trends. In October 2020, new filings were coming in at a weekly rate of over 700,000, but in the same month in 2019, initial claims averaged just over 210,000.

{snip}

[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, October 21, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending October 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 290,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 293,000 to 296,000. The 4-week moving average was 319,750, a decrease of 15,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 334,250 to 335,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending October 9, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 9 was 2,481,000, a decrease of 122,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,770,000. The previous week's level was revised up 10,000 from 2,593,000 to 2,603,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,655,500, a decrease of 84,750 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 2,500 from 2,737,750 to 2,740,250.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending October 2 was 3,279,036, a decrease of 369,992 from the previous week. There were 23,755,845 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 21-1902-NAT

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

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Yeah, because you don't need unemployment

You can always get a job that legally pays you just $2.13 an hour. They are everywhere.

So it seems after half the states stopped paying unemployment, people stopped applying for unemployment. Who would have thought it.