Initial Jobless Claims Trends Back To 4-Month Highs

The number of Americans seeking first-time jobless benefits has been trending significantly higher for the last two months as lockdowns spread virally across the nation. The most recent week did see the number of initial colaimants drop modestly but it remains well off the lows (and well above the pre-COVID norms)…

Source: Bloomberg

Smoothing out the noise with a 4-week average pushed claims back to the highest since September…

Source: Bloomberg

Pandemic Claims rebounded significantly last week as ‘normal’ continuing claims limped lower…

Source: Bloomberg

Given the pure coincidence of sudden reopenings across many (blue) states in the last week (since the inauguration), it is possible that we have seen the worst of this labor market pain for now.