Unemployment Claims Steady This Week

Unemployment claims were basically flat at 751,000, a drop of about seven thousand.

This is not indicative of a recovery:

The pace of the labor market recovery showed fresh signs of cooling last week, with new applications for unemployment benefits holding nearly steady as virus cases surged in several states.

Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 751,000 in the week ended Oct. 31, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was the lowest level since mid-March, but was well above the 217,000 claims filed in late February, before economic shutdowns to control the spread of the new coronavirus began.

The previous week’s data were revised up by 7,000 to 758,000.

“The level of filings is trending down over time, but this downward trend has flattened noticeably,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. economist Daniel Silver wrote in a note to clients. “This is consistent with the idea that the labor market continues to recover, but that the pace of improvement has moderated.”

As I’ve noted before, the initial recovery was 1 part dead cat bounce, and 1 part the stimulus package,and both of those have expires.

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