US initial jobless claims unchanged week-on-week
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 23 Dec 2021
(Sharecast News) - Claims for unemployment benefits were unchanged in the seven days ended 18 December after hitting their lowest level since 1969 two weeks earlier.
According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims totalled 205,000 last week, bang in line with estimates and the previous week's downwardly revised total.
The four-week moving average, which levels out volatility in the numbers, came to 206,250, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average, the lowest level for the average since 14 March 2020, while continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, came to 1.85m, ahead of forecasts for a print of 1.82m but below the week before's revised reading of 1.86m.
Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson said: "The apparent stalling in the downshift jobless claims in the past couple weeks ss no big deal; the seasonals now are less friendly over the next few weeks than in October and November, and the data are always noisy over the holidays. The core story here is unchanged; the trend in claims is very low and still falling, because rising demand is easing the pressure on businesses. Moreover, firms are reluctant to let staff go in such a tight labor market, unless they have no other choice. We expect claims to hit new lows by the end of January, but they could easily rise further in the meantime; we look for 220K next week."
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