Jobless claims: Another 684,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 684,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims

Emily McCormick·Reporter
Thu, March 25, 2021, 8:31 AM

U.S. states saw a bigger than expected drop in initial unemployment claims filings last week as claims fell to a pandemic-era low.

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended March 20: 684,000 vs. 730,000 expected and 770,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended March 13: 3.870 million vs. 4 million expected and 4.124 million during the prior week

Initial unemployment claims held below 800,000 for a fifth straight week and declined after last week's unexpected jump. The year-over-year improvements was even more pronounced: During the same week in 2020, new claims rocketed to more than 3 million as the pandemic's initial impacts reverberated across the labor market.

But while claims have come down considerably from those highs, they remain sharply elevated from 2019 levels, when new claims averaged just over 200,000 per week. Plus, improvements have stagnated in recent months, and claims have yet to break below levels seen in November.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-march-20-2021-pandemic-165400695-182038606.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

News Release

Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, March 25, 2021

Note: Calendar Year (CY) 2021 seasonal factors and revised seasonal factors for CY 2016-2020 for both initial claims and continued claims will be available at https://www.bls.gov/lau/seasonal-adjustment-for-weekly-unemployment-insurance-claims.htm by 12:00 pm (Eastern) on Thursday, March 25, 2021. Revisions to the historical series for CY 2016-2020 for both initial claims and continued claims will be published on April 1, 2021, with the release of the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims News Release.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 684,000, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 11,000 from 770,000 to 781,000. The 4-week moving average was 736,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,750 from 746,250 to 749,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent for the week ending March 13, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 13 was 3,870,000, a decrease of 264,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 10,000 from 4,124,000 to 4,134,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,120,750, a decrease of 137,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,500 from 4,255,500 to 4,258,000.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 6 was 18,952,795,
an increase of 733,862 from the previous week. There were 2,006,387 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in
the comparable week in 2020.

{snip the rest of the twelve-page news release, until the end}

Weekly Claims Archives
Weekly Claims Data

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department's Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts Departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal relay).

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 21-574-NAT

Program Contacts:
Thomas Stengle: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

[DonViejo]

2. New Jobless Claims Keep Falling

March 25, 2021 at 8:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

“Jobless claims reached their lowest level of the pandemic, dropping to 684,000 last week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The dip adds to evidence the economy is ramping up.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2021/03/25/new-jobless-claims-keep-falling/