Jobless claims: Another 187,000 Americans filed new claims last week, the least since 1969
Source: Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims: Another 187,000 Americans filed new claims last week, the least since 1969
Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, March 24, 2022, 8:31 AM · 3 min read
U.S. jobless claims set a fresh 2022 low last week as the red-hot labor market shows few signs of cooling in the near-term.
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 19: 187,000 vs. 210,000 expected, 214,000 during prior week
-- Continuing claims, week ended March 12: 1.350 million vs. 1.400 million expected, 1.419 million during prior week
At 187,000, new jobless claims improved for a back-to-back week and reached the lowest level since September 1969. Continuing claims also fell further to reach 1.35 million the least since January 1970. ... The labor market has remained a point of strength in the U.S. economy, with job openings still elevated but coming down from record levels as more workers rejoin the labor force from the sidelines.
Going forward, however, some economists warned that new cases of the fast-spreading sub-variant of Omicron, known as BA.2, could at least temporarily disrupt mobility and economic activity across the country. As of this week, about one-third of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been attributed to the sub-variant, though overall new infections have still been trending down from January's record high. The impact on the labor market and on demand in the service sector especially remains to be seen.
{snip}
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-march-19-2022-183206198.html
Another week, another thread on initial unemployment claims
Here are this morning's banner, which went up before 8:00 a.m., and yesterday's placeholder article:
COMING UP Jobless claims: Another 210,000 Americans likely filed new claims last week
Check back at 8:30 a.m. ET for results
-- -- -- -- -- --
Placeholder for the March 24, 2022 initial claims report:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-march-19-2022-183206198.html
Yahoo Finance
Jobless claims preview: Another 210,000 Americans likely filed new claims last week
Emily McCormick · Reporter
Wed, March 23, 2022, 2:32 PM·3 min read
U.S. jobless claims likely set a fresh 2022 low last week as the red-hot labor market shows few signs of cooling in the near-term.
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 19: 210,000 expected, 214,000 during prior week
-- Continuing claims, week ended March 12: 1.400 million expected, 1.419 million during prior week
At 210,000, the expected number of new unemployment claims would represent the least since the end of last year and a back-to-back week of declines. Continuing claims are also expected to fall further after reaching just 1.419 million last week -- the lowest level since February 1970.
The labor market has remained a point of strength in the U.S. economy, with job openings still elevated but coming down from record levels as more workers rejoin the labor force from the sidelines.
Going forward, however, some economists warned that new cases of the fast-spreading sub-variant of Omicron, known as BA.2, could at least temporarily disrupt mobility and economic activity across the country. As of this week, about one-third of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been attributed to the sub-variant, though overall new infections have still been trending down from January's record high. The impact on the labor market -- and on demand in the service sector especially -- remains to be seen.
"Right now, U.S. cases are in the sweet spot between the bottom of the initial Omicron wave and the impending explosion in BA.2 cases, but this probably won't last long," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note this week. "Our bet ... is that the coming BA.2 wave will trigger a modest but visible pull-back in the discretionary services sector, thereby dampening consumption in the first month of the second quarter."
{snip}
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,906 posts)Connect with DOL at
https://blog.dol.gov
TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL
8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, March 24, 2022
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA
In the week ending March 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 187,000, a decrease of 28,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since September 6, 1969 when it was 182,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 214,000 to 215,000. The 4-week moving average was 211,750, a decrease of 11,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 223,000 to 223,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.0 percent for the week ending March 12, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 12 was 1,350,000, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since January 3, 1970 when it was 1,332,000. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 1,419,000 to 1,417,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,431,500, a decrease of 31,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since February 28, 1970 when it was 1,421,000. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 1,463,000 to 1,462,500.
{snip}
UNADJUSTED DATA
{snip}
The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 5 was 1,857,797, a decrease of 110,749 from the previous week. There were 19,893,719 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 (202) 693-7828 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (federal relay).
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 22-537-NAT
Program Contacts:
Kevin Stapleton: (202) 693-3009
Media Contact: (202) 693-4676
progree
(10,864 posts)From the OP:
Now:
Edited to Add --, Well, besides the headline, she had initially updated this part too (as was reflected in the initial OP)
-- Continuing claims, week ended March 12: 1.350 million vs. 1.400 million expected, 1.419 million during prior week
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,906 posts)I don't think there will be another update.
She updated the banner too. It now reads:
Continuing claims also fell further to reach 1.35 million -- the least since January 1970
I don't know how much more of this RW propaganda I can take.
And good morning. It's another dreary day here.
progree
(10,864 posts)I just wish she wouldn't hit "post" after each sentence update
It's dreary in Minneapolis too -- ANOTHER dreary day
Edited to add - Was wondering about whether the continuing claims had also reached a multidecade low -- glad to see that it has -- thanks.
Stuart G
(38,365 posts)Johnny2X2X
(18,747 posts)Less people are unemployment in the US right now than at any time since 1970, that's absolutely remarkable.
brush
(53,475 posts)another 187,000 unemployment claims filed.
It's the lowest in 50 years but the Yahoo headline makes it appear that it's rising more and more.
onenote
(42,383 posts)The Yahoo headline: Jobless claims: Another 187,000 Americans filed new claims last week, the least since 1969
or: New jobless claims fall to 187,000, setting more than five-decade low
brush
(53,475 posts)instead of "187,000 filed, fewest since..."
It's a small thing but the first glance is that it's rising, not falling. Excuse this old newspaper person but with people getting their news in quick bites nowadays, first takes matter.
RussBLib
(8,985 posts).... we'd never hear the end of it on Fox, Newsmax, etc.
So absurd that a few media outlets are automatically opposed to anything under Biden, no matter how good for the country.
progree
(10,864 posts)# Unemployed (thousands) http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS13000000
# Unemployment rate http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
# U-6, the "underemployment rate" that counts people who work part time but want full time work as underemployed.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS13327709
# initial claims for unemployment insurance January 1967- : https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ICSA
# continued claims for unemployment insurance January 1967-: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCSA
These are all at astonishingly low levels, but the unemployed (thousands) and unemployment rates are not yet at multi-decade lows, though close.
And a reminder -- the count of the unemployed and the unemployment rate is NOT a count of those receiving unemployment benefits, nor is unemployment benefit receiver status factored at all into any of the official unemployment rate statistics (U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U6). Rather, the unemployment rate is based on a survey of 60,000 households chosen at random. See: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm (and search the page for the word "insurance" ) or Google the below line::
"How the Government Measures Unemployment" cps_htgm.htm
and search the page for the word "insurance"
People in the survey are counted as unemployed (and thus part of the official (U3) unemployment rate) if they are jobless and looked for work some time in the past 4 weeks. They are counted as unemployed in the U4, U5, and U6 statistics if they looked for work some time in the past 12 months. It has nothing at all to do with whether they are collecting unemployment benefits or not, or how long they have been unemployed.
(some people conflate the number getting unemployment insurance benefits as the official number of unemployed people, but not so).