New weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increased last week, even as a broadening vaccination program and the return of some high-contact service jobs took place.
The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims on Thursday and here are the main metrics from the report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:
- Initial jobless claims, week ended March 27: 719,000 vs. 675,000 expected, and a revised 658,000 during the prior week
- Continuing claims, week ended March 20: 3.8 million vs. 3.7 million expected, and 3.9 million during the prior week
Last week’s jump in new jobless claims came as a surprise to economists looking for an improvement to a new pandemic-era low. However, the prior week’s claims were revised down to 658,000 to show an even more marked improvement from the 684,000 previously reported. The new four-week moving average for new claims came down by 10,500 to 719,000 amid these revisions.
Click here to see the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.
“This is a bit disappointing, given the sharp drop in Google searches for ‘file for unemployment’ last week, but note that last week’s claims were revised down to 658K from 684K,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in an email. “Taking the two weeks together it’s clear that the trend in claims is falling. We expect a sustained sharp decline in the second quarter as the economy reopens, making it easier for businesses under financial stress to hold onto employees.”
