Jobless claims: Another 214,000 Americans filed new claims last week

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo Finance

Jobless claims: Another 214,000 Americans filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, March 17, 2022, 8:31 AM · 3 min read

New unemployment claims improved more than expected last week, further reflecting a tight labor market and relatively low levels of firings and layoffs.

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

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended March 12: 214,000 vs. 220,000 expected, 227,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended March 5: 1.419 million vs. 1.480 million expected, 1.494 million during prior week

Jobless claims came in below 250,000 for a seventh consecutive week and hovered around pre-pandemic levels. Continuing claims, which track the total number of individuals claiming benefits across regular state programs, have held well below levels from even before the pandemic, coming in under 1.5 million for four consecutive weeks now. Throughout 2019, continuing claims averaged around 1.7 million per week.

The labor market has remained a bright spot in the U.S. economy, especially as a brief hit from the Omicron variant earlier this year unwound further in the most recent economic data.

{snip}

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-march-12-2022-202355584.html

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Here are this morning's banner, which went up before 8:00 a.m., and yesterday's placeholder article.

COMING UP Jobless claims: Another 220,000 Americans likely filed new claims last week
Check back at 8:30 a.m. ET for results

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Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 220,000 Americans likely filed new claims last week

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-march-12-2022-202355584.html

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, March 16, 2022, 4:23 PM · 3 min read

New unemployment claims likely improved slightly last week, further reflecting a tight labor market and relatively low levels of firings and layoffs.

The Labor Department is set to release its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here are the main metrics expected from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended March 12: 220,000 expected, 227,000 during prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended March 5: 1.480 million expected, 1.494 million during prior week

Jobless claims are expected to come in below 250,000 for a seventh consecutive week and hover around pre-pandemic levels. Continuing claims, which track the total number of individuals claiming benefits across regular state programs, have held well below levels from even before the pandemic, coming in under 1.5 million for three consecutive weeks now. Throughout 2019, continuing claims averaged around 1.7 million per week.

The labor market has remained a bright spot in the U.S. economy, especially as a brief hit from the Omicron variant earlier this year unwound further in the most recent economic data.

Taken together, the weekly jobless claims data, monthly jobs reports and other surveys have shown an economy with near-record levels of job openings and a labor force participation rate that has steadily begun to creep back toward pre-virus standards.

However, with inflation running at a 40-year high, many economists have begun to wonder when rising prices ultimately begin to meaningfully dent demand — and in turn weigh on employers' desires to bring back more labor.

{snip}

[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 17, 2022

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 214,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 227,000 to 229,000. The 4-week moving average was 223,000, a decrease of 8,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 231,250 to 231,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.0 percent for the week ending March 5, 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 March 5 was 1,419,000, a decrease of 71,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since February 21, 1970 when it was 1,412,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 1,494,000 to 1,490,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,463,000, a decrease of 42,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 21, 1970 when it was 1,456,750. The previous week's average was revised down by 1,000 from 1,506,500 to 1,505,500.

{snip}

UNADJUSTED DATA

{snip}

The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending February 26 was 1,968,544, an increase of 59,516 from the previous week. There were 18,946,509 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

{snip the rest of the ten-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 22-486-NAT

Program Contacts:
Kevin Stapleton: [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

[essaynnc]

2. Can someone add some insight please?

I keep seeing the numbers that "initial claims for unemployment" are down, but I'm not exactly sure how to interpret that.

Does that mean that this is below the average normal turnover that we'd expect to see if we employment is holding steady? There obviously is a normal amount of job turnover, just "cause". If so, what is that number? Is there a direct effect on un-employment, or is it just an indicator???

Thanks in advance.......

[robbob]

3. Yeah, I'm also confused...

When I see 200k+ new claims I’m thinking that’s BAD news? I mean, shouldn’t we be seeing people getting OFF unemployment as the job market opens up? Or is there a “people filing new claims vs. people getting off unemployment” thing going on here? In which case, wouldn’t the net +/- stat be more useful?

[ZellyCabMem]

4. Poorly Written or Propaganda

It should say historically low numbers of new jobless claims continue. There are plenty of accurately worded articles out there, but this gets posted every Thursday like clockwork.

[oasis]

5. THIS

^^^^^^

[onetexan]

7. Exactly. Dont trust RW Yahoo or ATT horse manure.

[greenjar_01]

6. ANOTHER!

[nitpicker]

8. I THINK fewer employers are attempting to reopen and winding up reshuttering

Even next to National Airport, one of the two shuttered kabob places will have a new tenant, but the other one is not being occupied anytime soon.

Restaurant row next to National Airport ((AKA DCA)) is doing a roaring business thanks to March Madness, but how many people will be let go once that is all over?? I have no clue.