“Only” 779,000 Americans Filed For First-Time Jobless Benefits Last Week

While the recent trend in initial jobless claims has been weak ahead of tomorrow’s payrolls data, last week saw a modest improvement with the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time at 779k (better than the 830k expected)

Source: Bloomberg

Meanwhile, as traditional continuing claims improve visually (Americans dropping off the rolls), those claiming Pandemic Aid remain high (though dipped in the prior week)…

Source: Bloomberg

And the overall number of Americans claiming some form of jobless benefit remains extremely high…

Source: Bloomberg

This is the 3rd weekly improvement in a row, but remember these numbers are around 4x the pre-COVID norms.