Continuing Jobless Claims Hit 10-Month Highs As Layoffs Exploded In November

While initial jobless claims dipped last week (from 241k to 225k), Challenger Job Cuts exploded higher, jumping 416.5% YoY (up 127% in November)…

Source: Bloomberg

This is the biggest jump since the COVID lockdown crisis:

“The Tech sector has announced the most job cuts this year by far. While other industries are cutting jobs at a slower pace, hiring appears to have slowed as well,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

This year’s tech cuts are 535% higher than the 12,761 cuts announced through the same period in 2021. Job cuts announced in the East 6,762; Midwest 7,883; West 58,497; South 3,693

More symptomatic of a weakening consumer, holiday hiring plans are down notably this year…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, Continuing Jobless Claims rose to 1.608mm, their highest since Feb 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

The decline in initial jobless claims was mainly due to distortions from seasonal factors, which had signaled a decrease of 37k from the previous week. Instead, seasonally unadjusted claims declined by 51k, pushing seasonally adjusted figures down by 16k.

It appears Powell’s tightening policy is starting to have an effect on the labor market.