Initial Jobless Claims Dip Slightly To 787K

Initial jobless claims for the week that ended Jan. 2 dropped 3,000 from the previous week's revised level, for a total of 787,000, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday (Jan. 7).

The previous week's total was revised from 787,000 to 790,000. For the week that ended Dec. 26, the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment was 5.07 million, a decrease of 126,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 21,000 from 5,219,000 to 5,198,000.

"Momentum has weakened in recent months, a trend that will likely persist in the near term,” Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economists told Yahoo! Finance. “Risks to the labor market are skewed to the downside from a deteriorating health backdrop that will impact business activity.”

The $900 billion pandemic relief package extended both Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance until at least March.

The DOL Employment and Training Administration issued updated guidance on Tuesday (Jan. 5) that provides implementation information to states regarding Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) and Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC). Late last month, Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, reauthorizing the payment of FPUC benefits and creating the new MEUC program.

August was the first time since the pandemic began in March that new jobless claims were below one million. For 20 consecutive weeks, claims were above one million.