Jobless claims: Another 222,000 individuals filed initial unemployment claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 222,000 individuals filed initial unemployment claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, December 2, 2021, 8:30 AM · 3 min read

Weekly jobless claims rose after setting a more than five-decade low last week. Still, however, new claims came in near their pre-pandemic levels, highlighting ongoing improvements in the labor market.

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

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended November 27: 222,000 vs. 240,000 expected and 199,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended November 20: 1.956 million vs. 2.003 million expected and 2.049 million during prior week

Consensus economists expected to see jobless claims rise for the first time in eight weeks. Last week's 199,000 jobless claims -- which brought new claims well below even their pre-pandemic 2019 weekly average of about 220,000 -- were seen by many pundits as a one-time event.

"Last week's drop to 199K likely overstated strength, due to holiday-related seasonal adjustment issues," wrote Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics, in a note. "The overriding message remains the same: Demand for labor remains strong amid a worker shortage."

{snip}

The Labor Department is set to release its November jobs report Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET.

—

Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
https://twitter.com/emily_mcck

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobless-claims-preview-economists-expect-claims-to-rise-by-240000-after-reaching-52-year-low-200027307.html

---

Thanks, Emily.

Here's the placeholder article:

-- -- -- -- -- --

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobless-claims-preview-economists-expect-claims-to-rise-by-240000-after-reaching-52-year-low-200027307.html

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims preview: Economists expect claims to rise after reaching 52-year low

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, December 1, 2021, 3:00 PM · 3 min read

Weekly jobless claims are expected to rise after setting a more than five-decade low last week. Still, however, new claims are set to come in near their pre-pandemic levels, highlighting ongoing improvements in the labor market.

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

-- Initial unemployment claims, week ended November 27: 240,000 expected and 199,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended November 20: 2.002 million expected and 2.049 million during prior week

Consensus economists expect to see jobless claims rise for the first time in eight weeks. Last week's 199,000 jobless claims -- which brought new claims well below even their pre-pandemic 2019 weekly average of about 220,000 -- were seen by many pundits as a one-time event.

"Last week's drop to 199K likely overstated strength, due to holiday-related seasonal adjustment issues," wrote Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics, in a note. "The overriding message remains the same: Demand for labor remains strong amid a worker shortage."

{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, December 2, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending November 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 222,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 5,000 from 199,000 to 194,000. The 4-week moving average was 238,750, a decrease of 12,250 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 down by 1,250 from 252,250 to 251,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.4 percent for the week ending November 20, 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 November 20 was 1,956,000, a decrease of 107,000 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 14,000 from 2,049,000 to 2,063,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,084,250, a decrease of 36,250 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 3,500 from 2,117,000 to 2,120,500.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 13 was 2,306,353, an increase of 21,564 from the previous week. There were 20,756,040 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 21-2092-NAT

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

[doc03]

2. The media always uses that misleading headline "Another" 222,000 filed initial

unemployment claims. It makes it sound like an additional 222000 are out of work, they don't say how many
started working. If 222,000 people file an unemployment claim and 221,999 found jobs that week one additional
person became unemployed.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. The number came straight from DOL's Employment and Training Administration.

Emily McCormick had her article all written and ready to go on Wednesday afternoon. All she needed was the numbers, She got those on Thursday morning, just like the rest of us.

Note that the Employment and Training Administration is in a different building from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Thanks for writing.

[doc03]

5. The DOL didn't say "another" 222,000 filed for unemployment. That was the

headline on the Yahoo Finance article. Anyway it seems misleading to me. Most people
read the headline "Another 222,000 file for unemployment" they don't bother to read the
entire article they think unemployment got worse by 222,000.

[JohnSJ]

6. My exact thoughts. Purposely putting a negative slant in the headline on actually positive news

[progree]

7. The same reporter used "Another" in the previous 2 weeks

(I didn't look any further back)

Last week:

Jobless claims: Another 199,000 individuals filed new claims last week

The week before that:

Jobless claims: Another 268,000 individuals filed new unemployment claims last week

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Lower than expected, but up from 52 year low

This is good news. The job market is strong. We're likely to see good numbers tomorrow.