Weekly jobless claims rise unexpectedly, total 870,000

[TomCADem]

Source: CNBC

The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits were slightly higher than expected last week as the labor market continues its sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 19 came in at 870,000. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected first-time claims at 850,000, down slightly from the previous week’s 860,000.

“Bottom line, we have a mix of people going back to work because they are now greater incentivized to do so without the extra $600 per week and those that are still challenged in finding a job that matches their skills in this unfortunate pandemic landscape,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. He was referring to the expiration this summer of the $600 a week in supplemental benefits paid to people who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

New York and Georgia saw the biggest week-over-week increases in initial claims, the department said. Claims in New York jumped by more than 9,000 last week and first-time filers in Georgia rose by more than 6,000.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/24/weekly-jobless-claims.html

[bucolic_frolic]

1. No surprise

Closeouts, work-off of April-May hoarding, reduced hours by 15-50% a week. The signs are in your local retail stores. Shopping malls closing empty stores. Banks build locations for themselves and tack on 2 side stores, both empty. See a pattern?

[TomCADem]

5. WSJ - High Jobless Claims Suggest Slowing in Labor Market's Recovery

Trump's own actions in pushing for a rapid reopening has sabotage the recovery because even though a lot of restrictions have been lifted, people are afraid to go to public places. Republicans use to cheerfully say that if you are concerned about getting sick, then stay home. Well, a lot of people are doing that given how fragmented the U.S. response has been.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/weekly-jobless-claims-coronavirus-09-24-2020-11600889767

The labor market has added jobs in the prior four months after steep declines in employment at the beginning of the pandemic, helping bring down the jobless rate to 8.4% in August from near 15% in April. But the pace of gains has slowed recently, and persistently elevated jobless claims in September point to continued cooling in the jobs market.

One reason is that layoffs have continued at a high rate. Some employers that held on to workers at the beginning of the economic crisis are now reducing their head counts because of persistently weak demand. A rise in coronavirus cases this summer triggered new business restrictions and related layoffs, and some small businesses that had relied on government aid to keep workers on payrolls had to cut staff when that money ran dry. The Labor Department will provide an updated look at the jobs market in September on Oct. 2.

At the same time, many workers are returning to their previous jobs or finding new ones, but not at a high enough rate to offset overall job losses from earlier in the pandemic. Re-employment has contributed to a decline in the number of people collecting unemployment benefits through regular state programs, which cover most workers. So-called continuing claims decreased by 167,000 to about 12.6 million for the week ended Sept. 12.

“The labor market is not out of the woods yet. It’s still a very challenging and weak labor market, but that said…it’s moving in the right direction,” said Kathy Bostjancic, an economist at Oxford Economics.

[PSPS]

2. "unexpectedly" LOL

[progree]

3. Total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Sept 5 was 26.0 M

From the source, 830 am ET 9/24/20
https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

...

UNADJUSTED DATA

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 5 was 26,044,952, a decrease of 3,723,513 from the previous week. There were 1,488,601 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019. [Unfortunately there's a 2 1/2 week lag in this statistic. The week ending Sept 5 is the latest there is for this -Progree]

[aggiesal]

4. WOW, 26,044,952 compared to 1,488,601 ...

That's 17.5 times more.
And I keep seeing Pendejo45's campaign commercials during NFL games, saying that
jobs increased 10,000,000 over the last month, but they conveniently keep forgetting
to mention that they lost over 30,000,000 jobs.