New weekly jobless claims have reach a new pandemic low — the lowest it has been since March 2020.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, initial jobless claims dropped to 348,000 last week, down by 29,000 from the week prior. Jobless claims outperformed consensus estimates at 364,000.
Continuing claims were at 2,820,000, down 79,000 from the week prior. However, continuing claims data underperformed expert estimates by 20,000.
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
Initial claims were 348,000 for the week ending 8/14 (-29,000).
Insured unemployment was 2,820,000 for the week ending 8/7 (-79,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW
— US Labor Department (@USDOL) August 19, 2021
The total number of Americans using some sort of unemployment benefit remains elevated. By the end of July, about 11.7 million claimed some form of benefits.
The contributing factor to this are likely Joe Biden’s pandemic checks. Until they are ended in all states, the labor shortage is expected to remain a problem for the recovery.
