Headline Roundup • December 16th, 2021
Jobless Claims Rise but Remain Near Historic Low
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that initial unemployment claims rose to 206,000 last week. The number was higher than expected but still remained near the lowest level in decades.
Employers remain hesitant to lay off workers in the face of a tight labor supply. The labor force participation rate was 61.8% in November, compared to 63.3% in February, and the size of the civilian labor force is down by 2.4 million.
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New applications for unemployment benefits edged higher last week but stayed very low, reflecting an unusually tight labor market as the economy continued to recover.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, inched up by 18,000 to 206,000 for the week ended Dec. 11 from a revised 188,000—the lowest level in 52 years—the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. New jobless claims have been steadily declining throughout the year.
Last week’s four-week moving average, which smooths out volatility, fell to 203,750, the lowest since November 1969.
“It’s a tight labor market...
New weekly jobless claims ticked up slightly last week to hold near a 52-year low.
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 Dec. 11: 206,000 vs. 200,000 expected and an upwardly revised 188,000 during prior week
Continuing claims, week ended Dec. 4: 1.845 million vs. 1.943 million expected and an upwardly revised 1.999 million during prior week
First-time unemployment filings fell sharply to reach their lowest level since...
The number of new applications for unemployment benefits climbed 18,000 last week to 206,000, more than anticipated.
While Thursday's numbers, reported by the Labor Department, were higher than anticipated, they still reflect a general downward trajectory of new claims throughout the year. Claims were consistently above 600,000 each week earlier this year. Initial jobless claims, which are watched closely by government officials and investors because they are a proxy for layoffs, have dropped as the labor market has improved and fewer people require economic assistance from the government.
The week...
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