Initial & Continuing Jobless Claims Surge As Layoffs Accelerate

The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the first time in the last week was 224k (12k above expectations and 9k above the prior week). That is the highest since November…

Source: Bloomberg

This is the biggest two-week jump in initial claims since the start of 2022 (and this is not seasonal, as this data is already seasonally-adjusted)…

Source: Bloomberg

California, New York, and Oregon saw the biggest increases in initial claims while Illinois and Missouri saw the biggest declines…

Continuing claims also rose, to within a smidge of 1.9 million Americans (which is close to its highest since Dec 2021)…

Finally…

Dear @BLS_gov, since you have trouble finding actual data, we’ve made it easy for you – here are the layoffs announced in the past few months:

1. Twitch: 35% of workforce
2. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
3. Spotify: 17% of workforce
4. Levi’s: 15% of workforce
5. Zerox: 15% of…

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 31, 2024

Are we starting to see that impact the claims data finally?