New weekly jobless claims rose from a pandemic-era low last week, pointing to sustained improvements in the labor market’s recovery.
The Labor Department released its weekly jobless claims report on Thursday and here are the main metrics compared with consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Initial unemployment claims, week ended September 11: 332,000 vs. 322,000 expected, and a revised 312,000 during prior week
Continuing claims, week ended September 4: 2.7 million vs. 2.7 million expected and 2.8 million during prior week
Initial jobless claims had reached their lowest level since March 2020 at the start of September, as the pace of those newly unemployed edged closer to pre-pandemic standards. New jobless claims had come in at a rate of around 220,000 per month throughout 2019.
The four-week moving average for weekly new claims has also moved to the lowest level in 18 months, coming in at about 335,750 as of last week. This metric helps smooth out some of the volatility in the weekly figures and has been on a clear downward path throughout the year. The continued drop in new claims has also underscored the fact that labor shortages and difficulties in hiring have been the bigger drag on the labor market in recent months, rather than firings and separations.
Click here to read the full report from Emily McCormick in Yahoo Finance.
