A slight disappointment this week as initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose for the week, according to the latest data from the Department of Labor…(DOL)
- Initial claims were 207,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level, for the week ending January 1st.
- Economists had projected a slight decline to 197,000.
Continuing claims also declined for the week ending December 25th…
- Continuing claims were 1,754,000, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
- Economists had projected that claims would fall to 1.68M.
New York saw the biggest jump in initial claims with 8,922, followed by Pennsylvania (+6,806) and Conneticut (+5,992).
- New York also led the way for continuing claims with an increase of 50,373 followed by California (+46,937) and Illinois (+24,526)
While still close to historical lows, the report was disappointing only because of the optimism heading into Jobs Report Friday. ADP reported on Wednesday that the economy had created 807,000 jobs in December which was double the estimate of 400,000. Economist projections haven’t changed, so some may believe ADP might be a fluke, but the optimism is still there for a strong report tomorrow.