The Labor Department reports that initial claims for unemployment insurance increased last week, but they remained at levels comparable to how the U.S. job market was before the Covid-19 epidemic devastated it.
The 222,000 first-time filings in the week ending Nov. 27, were less than Wall Street had expected at 240,000. Although this was significantly higher than the previous week’s 194,000, that number, which was the lowest reported since 1969, was even lower.
Although the totals were subject to heavy seasonal adjustments (211,896), they are actually higher than the unadjusted numbers.
This report is released amid signs that the labor market has become more tight. Workers are leaving to find new positions at the highest levels and hiring continues at an accelerated pace.
In addition to the improved outlook on initial claims, continued claims dropped by 107,000 for the first-ever time since the beginning of the century. They are below 2,000,000 for the first times since then. the pandemic. Continued claims that were a week late than the headline numbers, was last March 14, 2020.
According to unadjusted data, Virginia and Texas saw more than 15,000 less claims for each week.
Thursday’s report arrives a day before the Bureau of Labor Statistics closely monitored nonfarm payrolls count.
The November job tally should show an additional 573,000 jobs, after the October gain of 531,000. Expect the unemployment rate to fall to 4.5%.
Correction: Initial reports of the number of jobless claims in the week prior to this were 199,000. The figure was incorrectly reported in an earlier version.
