SMLL - Initial Claims Mixed While Continuing Claims Continue 'Less Awful' Pandemic Recovery Trend
While Thursday morning's initial jobless claims increased from last week, they were better than any other readings since the pandemic started. Continuing claims had their "least worst" week yet.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, new jobless claims rose by 52,776 to 891,510, still only the second week under 1,000,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. After seasonal adjustment (which is far less important than usual at this time), claims rose by 135,000 to 1,106,000:
Continuing claims, on both an un-adjusted and seasonally adjusted basis, however, continued to decline, by 931,998 to 14,265,344, and by 636,000