initial claims

Initial Unemployment Claims at Levels Not Seen Since 1973

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on July 18th, 2015 was 255,000, a 26,000 decrease from the previous week of 281,000.  The DOL proclaims this is the largest drop since November 24th, 1973, when initial claims was 233,000.  The DOL also states this is no statistical anomaly.  Graphed below is initial claims.

 

Initial Unemployment Claims Gone Wild

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on December 21th, 2013 was 338,000, a 42,000 decrease from the previous week of 373,000.  Many headlines proclaim this is the largest drop since November 2012, yet what the press does not mention is that very time period in 2012 also had wild, whacky statistical swings.

What's Going On With Initial Unemployment Claims?

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on October 12th, 2013 was 358,000, a 15,000 decrease from the previous week of 373,000.  The problem is these figures are really out of whack and we have one state to blame, California. We've seen strange soarings in initial claims before yet this was unexpected to occur again.

Initial Unemployment Claims Imply Payroll Growth for Septmber 2013

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on September 28th, 2013 was 308,000, a 1,000 increase from the previous week of 307,000.  Since the monthly unemployment report will not be released due to the shutdown, we show below the correlation of initial unemployment claims to payroll growth.

Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Goes to Pre-Recession Levels

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on July 13th, 2013 was 320,000, a 15,000 decrease from the previous week of 335,000.  This is the second time in three weeks initial claims has hit pre-recession levels and the last time levels were this low is October 2007.

 

Don't Get Too Excited On the 24,000 Initial Unemployment Claims Drop

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on July 13th, 2013 was 334,000, a 24,000 decrease from the previous week of 358,000.  While Wall Street jumps on these figures, not so fast, initial claims are still elevated, going on six years since the start of the recession.

 

Initial Unemployment Claims Take a Hike Up Again

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on May 11th, 2013 was 360,000, a 32,000 increase from the previous week of 328,000 and a six week high.  This is the wrong direction for weekly initial unemployment claims and shows, once again, as far as jobs are concerned, the recession never ended.

 

Initial Unemployment Claims Back to Being Stuck in the Mud

The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on April 13th, 2013 was 352,000, a 4,000 increase from the previous week of 348,000.  This is the wrong direction for weekly initial unemployment claims and indicates slow hiring once again.

 

Are Initial Unemployment Claims Finally Dropping for Real?

The DOL reported people filing for  initial unemployment insurance benefits  in the week ending on March 9th, 2013 was 332,000, a 10,000 drop from the previous week of 342,000.  This is the lowest weekly initial unemployment claims since January 2008, the start of the recession.  Two months ago initial claims also dropped this low but it was a statistical fluke, the next week claims went up to 371,000.  Is this time finally different?

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