Initial Jobless Claims Improved Last Week, Pandemic Claims Surge

Following last week’s surge in total jobless claims back above 20 million, analysts expected initial claims to remain at this new elevated levels as lockdowns struck more and more of the nation. Instead, initial claims dropped to 803k (still dramatically higher than pre-COVID-Lockdown) from an upwardly revised 892k…

Source: Bloomberg

Illinois and Virginia saw the biggest rise in first time jobless claims last week while California saw claims plunge (in a very outlier-y way)…

As continuing claims roll off, last week saw another surge in Americans forced to the Pandemic Emergency Claims…

Source: Bloomberg

And the total number of Americans on some form of unemployment benefits remains back above 20 million…

Source: Bloomberg

Let’s just hope whatever junk is in this latest COVID (Lockdown) Relief Bill, it helps small businesses get back to work.