New weekly unemployment claims retreated only slightly from last week’s elevated level as the coronavirus pandemic continued to grip the U.S. economy.
The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday morning and here are the main results, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Initial jobless claims, week ended Jan. 16: 900,000 vs. 935,000 expected, and a revised 926,000 during the prior week
Continuing claims, week ended Jan. 9: 5.05 million vs. 5.3 million expected, and a revised 5.2 million during prior week
Initial unemployment claims came in at 900,000 or above for back-to-back weeks after hovering below that level since August. This month, seasonality factors coincided with a post-holiday spike in coronavirus cases to weigh heavily on the labor market data. The four-week moving average for new claims jumped by nearly 24,000 to 848,000 this week.
While most states reported declines in unadjusted new claims last week, a few reported notable increases.
To read the full story from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance, click here.
