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U.S. Jobless Claims Surprisingly Rose Last Week to 714,000

Published 04/01/2021, 08:35 AM
Updated 04/01/2021, 08:46 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com --- The number of people filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, signaling that the improvement in labor market trends remains uneven despite the reopening of large swathes of the economy.

The Labor Department said 714,000 people filed initial jobless claims last week, up from 658,000 the previous week. The latter figure, which was already the lowest since the pandemic started destroying jobs a year ago, was revised down by 26,000. 

Analysts had expected a marginal decline in initial claims to 680,000.  

The number of those making continuing claims, which is compiled with a one-week lag to the initial claims data, fell to 3.794 million.

Millions more remain on other, pandemic-related insurance programs. The overall number of people claiming under all unemployment-related programs - collated parallel to the continuing claims series -  resumed its longer-term decline in the week through March 13. It fell by over 1.5 million to 18.21 million.

The numbers suggest that layoffs are still running at a historically high level, despite evidence of a sharp improvement in hiring trends through mid-March. Private-payroll processor ADP said on Wednesday that the economy added 517,000 jobs in March, nearly three times the February number, as various states relaxed pandemic-driven restrictions that have mainly hit labor-intensive service industries.

The government's more authoritative labor market survey is due to be released on Friday. Analysts expect total nonfarm payrolls to have risen by 647,000. The ADP and government numbers have shown a much lower correlation during the pandemic than before it.

Latest comments

Instead of free money, make these jobless incompetents fix highways or dig some oil wells.
Regardless of your views filling ceo and their crony friends pockets with tax subsidies and breaks and loopholes isnt trickling down
the statistics has long been manipulated. they made the numbers really bad during Trump presidency to help Biden. now they can't cover it up no longer lol
who is "they"?  you do realise of course the data comes from US Dept of Labor, which is part of the federal govt, during the Trump presidency the Labor secretary was appointed by Trump and wife of Mitch McConnell?
Why is this a surprise ? When you pay Americans to not work, you get what you paid for !!!
and unemployment is tax free now
No one is going back to work when they make more on unemployment.
the m o. r o n s blaming Biden is truly a joke. but this is Americans. what can one expect
Surprisingly and unexpected are these the only words that the authors know. It is the same week after week if the actual numbers miss the analysts guess, so ridiculous. Maybe the analyst need to get out of the office and observe the real world and not just their fantasies of the world.
lol so true
surprisingly? no. Thanks to Biden
Biden got this news last week. That is why he needs more money to tear down old building, homes,infastructures and build ‘green’. Building will create ‘green’ jobs.
Why surprisingly? Do you think the economy is in good shape? Well, think again! You are mistaking the markets highs (based on fake money from the FED) with the economy. The economy is in an extremely bad state. So it is totally logic that the jobless claims rise!
Business is thinking Biden tax eats their profit. They lay off in advance and force the rest to work harder.
"surprisingly" lol. it's gonna get a lot worse
Higher than the worst of the global financial crisis. Where is the “recovery”?
Your comments are all anti american and pro china
democrats destroying 200 plus years of the country in 10 weeks
This governments #1 goal is to destroy jobs. Why is this a surprise?
Your comments are all pro china
no they're not I despise china
Not really a surprise. Once the business income taxes get approved in the infrastructure relief bill, expect unemployment to go even higher.
Exactly right. Biden's administration supported by Democrats are about to purge successful corporations with a tax increase and redistribute the funds to layabouts and the workshy. Tax increases are bad for businesses and lead to workers being laid off.
Its fairly simple mate. When governments raise taxes on business's the theory in practice is they should shed unnecessary spending, cut bonuses and etc to cover the increase but it doesn't work out that way. They'll cut hours first because it's the quickest and simplest way to cut costs and preserve bonuses. They'll end up cutting jobs in some cases and won't hire as many workers for the future. Instead they'll op to hire the bare minimum to keep up with demand of services. You'll also find companies like Walmart that try to do underhanded stuff like keep their employees from having health coverage by not allowing them to work "full time" hours but close to it.
tax subsidies only end up in ceo and their cronies pockets
duh
The number of those making continuing claims, which is compiled with a one-week lag to the initial claims data, fell to 3.794 million.  --- this is the more important number, not the initial claims
who cares anymore. it's a linear line from a year ago. but so are the indices. that's all that matters
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