Weekly Jobless Claims Heads Wrong Way from 400,000 Mark

The U.S. Labor Department has just turned in its report on weekly jobless claims and the most recent data shows another gain and another week above 400,000…. the new data is 418,000 versus a revised figure of 408,000 the prior week.  This was the first increase in three weeks and continue to pressure the unemployment situation.

The prior week was originally turned in as being 405,000 and the estimate from Bloomberg for today’s data was 415,000 in weekly jobless claims.

The four-week average, the volatility smoothing figure, came in down 2,750 at 421,250 for the week.

One area we continue to dwell on is the army of unemployed measured by the continuing jobless claims.  That figure came down 50,000 to 3,698,000 from the prior period.

It is hard to look at anything being “good” in the jobs market today.  As long 400,000 is the floor, a real unemployment rate improvement seems fleeting.

JON C. OGG