Yesterday Was Jobless Thursday

And initial unemployment claims fell to a pandemic low of 290,000, which is good news. 

Overall employment remains down by about 5 million though:

Jobless claims fell slightly and notched a new pandemic low last week, a sign layoffs remain low as companies struggle to hire workers.

Worker filings for initial unemployment benefits decreased to 290,000 last week from a revised 296,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Last week’s decline brings claims to the lowest level since the pandemic struck in March 2020. Claims, a proxy for layoffs, are holding well below a recent peak of 424,000 in mid-July but remain above 2019’s weekly average of 218,000.

………

Continuing claims—a proxy for those receiving payments—made to pandemic programs and all others fell to 3.28 million in the week ended Oct. 2 from about 12 million in late August, before the pandemic aid expired nationwide. That data isn’t seasonally adjusted and is reported on a several-week delay.

………

The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits overall is shrinking after programs created to respond to the pandemic’s effect on the labor market ended in all states last month.

One of those programs provided payments to gig workers and others typically not eligible to tap unemployment insurance. Another extended payments to people who had exhausted state benefits. In addition, the federal government funded a $300 a week enhancement for unemployment programs.

So the rise in numbers in September has definitely reversed itself.

I have no clue as to what this all means.