It's Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The report actually came out yesterday, I thought that it would have been tomorrow.

In summary, initial claims are down, but continuing claims are up, so not much laying off, and even less hiring.

The net is still a downturn in employment:

Applications for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest since mid-April, remaining relatively subdued amid economic uncertainty.

Initial claims decreased by 6,000 to 216,000 in the week ended Nov. 22. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 225,000 applications.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, edged up to 1.96 million in the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. 

Additionally, this should be viewed in the context of the Trump administration using the government shutdown to suppress bad economic numbers:

Are Americans supposed to think that the Trump administration canceling the release of economics reports is somehow a good sign for the economy?

The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Monday that it had officially canceled releasing the advance estimate on gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2025. The Trump administration had previously delayed the release, which was initially slated for October 30, due to the government shutdown—but now it seems to have been abandoned altogether. 

Last week, the Labor Department called off releasing its monthly jobs report for October, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics scrapped its own report on inflation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed the Democrats two weeks ago for such delays, saying the liberal party “may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system.” She hinted at further cancellations, saying that data from October “will be permanently impaired.”

The Trump administration’s decision to get stingy with publishing economic data comes amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s policies aren’t all that good for the economy. Trump’s mass deportation scheme is estimated to reduce the GDP by between 4.2 to 6.8 percent, according to the American Immigration Council. Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs are also expected to place a strain on GDP, according to the Tax Foundation. 

If Trump would like to argue against these assertions, then the government may want to start publishing some actual data.

It's pretty clear that the Trump administration