It's Jobless Thursday!

And for the third straight week, initial unemployment claims rose.

It's only been small increases, but everything keeps holding at 300,000 to 325,000 which is not a good number by the standards of the before time:

Jobless claims climbed slightly last week but remained near pandemic lows, as demand for workers keeps a lid on layoffs.

Initial unemployment claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 351,000 last week from a revised 335,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average for initial claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, declined slightly and remained at its lowest level since the Covid-19 crisis began last year.

………

Last week’s increase appears to have been driven largely by higher totals in claims reported by California and Virginia, Ms. Houten added. “The big picture is that we expect the labor market recovery will continue.”

States which did not prematurely end benefits, so maybe this is the end of extended benefits kicking in.

………

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of workers receiving benefits, rose by 131,000 to 2.85 million in the week ended Sept. 11, up from the prior week’s pandemic low. Recent declines in continuing claims indicate that jobless workers have been leaving the unemployment rolls for new positions or because they have exhausted their benefits.

I think that the next 4-6 weeks will be crucial, but I've sent that before, and I fear that I am starting to sound like Tom "The Mustache of Inanity" Friedman.