MACRO: US jobless claims hit four-week high

• First-time filings for jobless claims rose 861 last week, above expectations of 765k
• Continuing claims edged lower, however the total receiving benefits still remains above 18 million

Labor Department announced today that initial jobless claims increased to 861k last week, while analysts' expected a drop to 765k. To make it worse, the previous week's improvement to 793k was drastically revised higher to 848k. As such, initial claims are still running fairly close to the recent peak of just over 900,000. 

Source: Department of Labour (via eyeonhousing.org)

It was the second straight increase as COVID-19 related restrictions still weigh on businesses in some states. Some of them recorded significant increases in claims last week, led by Illinois with 33,491 and California’s 20,657, according to unadjusted data. Texas saw a drop of 12,428 while Rhode Island was off 6,269.

Source: Bloomberg (via ZeroHedge)

Also, about 516 k Americans applied for help from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance scheme, which covers employees that do not qualify for initial claims, compared with 342 k last week. Meanwhile continuing claims declined again, edging lower to just below 4.5 million from an upwardly revised 4.558 million. Analysts had expected a figure of 4.413 million.  

The total number of people which are relying on benefits declined by 1.3 million, however still more than 18 million people are dependent on the government, which is not an optimistic sign. Today's figures indicate that labour market recovery may take much more time than initially expected even as the coronavirus pandemic shows signs of ebbing.