Initial unemployment claims unexpectedly rose last week to end a six-week streak of improvements, even aseconomic activity ramped up further and reopenings broadened out.
But in the coming weeks, a phase-out of enhanced unemployment benefits across many states may decrease the total number of claimants.
The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims on Thursday and here are the main metrics compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:
Initial jobless claims, week ended June 12: 412,000 vs. 360,000 expected, and a revised 375,000 during prior week
Continuing claims, week ended June 5: 3.5million vs. 3.4 million expected, and a revised 3.5 million during prior week
New filings broke back above the psychologically important 400,000 level for the first time since mid-May. Even with the increase, the four-week moving average for new jobless claims decreased by 8,000 to 395,000, given the drop in new claims over the past several weeks.
Click here to see the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.
Continuing jobless claims for regular state programs, reported on a one-week lag, also unexpectedly increased, but have still come down sharply from the more than 5 million reported each week as recently as early January.
Importantly, this week’s jobless claims data reflect the last survey period during which full federal pandemic-era unemployment benefits were in place across all U.S. states. On June 12, Alaska, Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi became the first states to significantly reduce or fully slash enhanced federal unemployment benefits ahead of their official September expiration date.
