US jobless claims fall as calculation method changes
By Sean Farrell
Date: Thursday 03 Sep 2020
(Sharecast News) - US jobless claims fell below 1m to the lowest since Covid-19 lockdowns began as the method for calculating official figures changed.
There were 881,000 seasonally adjusted new unemployment claims in the week ended 29 August, the Department of Labor said. Economists had on average forecast 950,000 claims.
Claims were just over 1m in the previous two weeks after edging down below 1m in early August. The department has changed its calculation method to give more reliable results in the weekly figures and this partly explains the drop in claims.
Continuing claims fell to 13.25m from 14.49m. The consensus forecast was for 14m.
The fall in regular state programme claims was not reflected in claims for pandemic unemployment assistance, which rose by 152,000 to 759,000.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures were "still grim" despite the change in calculation method. He said under the previous method the weekly figure would have been 1.02m.
Shepherdson said: "The pace of layoffs still remains very high, and it appears that the proportion of newly laid-off people quickly finding another job is falling."
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