Initial Jobless Claims At 2023 Lows Despite Surge In Job Cuts

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time last week fell to 228k (from 232k), near 6-month lows. However, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, initial jobless claims are the lowest since early November…

Source: Bloomberg

New York saw the biggest jump in claims while ‘fraud central’ Ohio continues to be the outlier to the downside (as that fraud is ‘removed’)…

Continuing Claims rose back above 1.7mm last week (1.725mm to be exact) as that trend is re-appearing…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, we note that Challenger, Gray reported a 217% MoM increase in job cuts in August (up 267% YoY).

Warehousing led all industries in August with 32,123, primarily on the bankruptcy of Yellow Corp. It is now the fifth-leading industry in job cut announcements this year with 42,768, a 456% increase from the 7,689 cuts announced through the same period in 2022.

“Job openings are falling, and American workers are more reluctant to leave their positions right now. The job market is resetting after the pandemic and post-pandemic hiring frenzy,” said Andrew Challenger, labor expert and Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

“The increase in job cuts is not surprising as technological disruption and companies taking a cost- savings approach on the economy claim positions,” he added.

So take your pick – ADP weak, JOLTS weak, Challenger-Gray weak, continuing claims weak BUT initial claims strong.

So presumably, none of those 30,000 laid-off Yellow workers filed for initial claims.