Jobless claims: Initial filings fell to 406,000 to set new pandemic-era low

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Jobless claims: Initial filings fell to 406,000 to set new pandemic-era low

Emily McCormick·Reporter
Thu, May 27, 2021, 8:31 AM

Initial unemployment claims set a new 14-month low as the labor market recovery made further strides toward recovering jobs lost during the pandemic.

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims 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 May 22: 406,000 vs. 425,000 expected and 444,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended May 15: 3.642 million vs. 3.680 million expected and 3.751 million during the prior week

As a greater percentage of the U.S. population becomes inoculated against COVID-19, more business have reopened and more social distancing standards have been eased. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of all Americans have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

This has in turn slowed the pace of layoffs and other separations, allowed more individuals to return to the workforce and pushed new weekly jobless claims closer toward their pre-pandemic pace of just over 200,000 per week.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-may-22-2021-183122973.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, May 27, 2021

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending May 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 406,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 444,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The 4-week moving average was 458,750, a decrease of 46,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 504,750. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending May 15, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 15 was 3,642,000, a decrease of 96,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 13,000 from 3,751,000 to 3,738,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,675,000, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 3,250 from 3,681,000 to 3,677,750.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip. Emphasis mine}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 8 was 15,802,126, a decrease of 175,255 from the previous week. There were 31,578,845 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 21-963-NAT

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

[Backseat Driver]

2. A toast in hope of fewer subjective "lay-offs"

and in hope that those impacted find a new, better employer who offers living wages/salary and benefits quickly, pandemic or not! You know, those "nothing personal; just business" or "don't fit in" ones, those that are not clearly statistically-proven performance, verifiable attendance versus stated availability at hire, or verifiable infractions of policy that carry this consequence. Another thing employers: Write better job descriptions and keep them updated; do away with the clause "ALL other duties as required" in job descriptions.