New Jobless Claims Beat Forecasts, Hit 52-Year Low

Initial unemployment filings fell to 184,000 in the week ended Dec. 4, a decrease of 43,000 from the prior week’s upwardly revised level. This is the lowest level for new jobless claims since Sept. 6, 1969, when it was 182,000, according to the weekly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New jobless claims were forecast to total 211,000 for the week ended Dec. 4, according to a Dow Jones economist survey.

Jobless claims have been on a downward trend and are now below the mark when the pandemic took hold in March 2020 and triggered nationwide layoffs. Claims averaged 218,000 in 2019.

Demand for workers remains high but the supply of workers is still low, resulting in fewer layoffs as jobs stay unfilled. Layoffs held steady at 1.4 million in October, according to the report.

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The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending Nov. 20 was approximately 1.95 million, down 350,527 from the previous week. In the same week in 2020, there were 19.58 million weekly claims.

During the week ending Nov. 20, Extended Benefits were available in Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Mexico.

Hourly pay in the private sector was up 4.8% last month over 2020, the BLS said last week, the same as October, and significantly higher than before the pandemic hit. Job openings in October hit 11 million, up from 10.6 million in September.

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“The overriding dynamic in the job market of late has been this shortage of workers,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said. “The issue of fresh job loss has not been key for many months now.”

There were 3.9 million fewer jobs in November than in February 2020, and 2.4 million fewer people in the workforce.

“We know that the job market is not going to look like it did exactly before the pandemic,” said Hamrick said. “But I think it’s important to note that there’s been substantial healing.”