- Weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest pandemic-era total
- Continuing claims declined to just over 2.1 million
- Productivity plunged 5% in Q3, the sharpest decline since 1981
The US labour market shows further signs of improvement, yesterday's ADP report turned out to be much better than expected while initial filings for unemployment insurance fell to another pandemic-era low.
Weekly jobless claims fell further to 269k, from a revised 283k in the previous period and below market expectations of 275k Continuing claims fell to 2.1m, and are now only 400k higher than they were pre-pandemic. This continued improvement in the labour markets bodes well for tomorrow’s US payrolls report. On the other hand, the US Department of Labor noted that persistent labour shortages remained a challenge that could weigh on further employment gains.
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Initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level since the pandemic hit the US economy back in March 2020. Source: Bloomberg via ZeroHedge
The total of those receiving benefits under all programs dropping another 157,731 to 2.67 million. Source: Bloomberg via ZeroHedge
However, the upbeat claims report was countered by a collapse in US productivity growth, which fell 5% in the third quarter, which is the biggest quarterly drop since the second quarter of 1981, while analysts' expected decline of 3.2%. At the same time, unit labor costs jumped 8.3%, well above market expectations of 7.4%. Today's sharp increase was a result of a combination of the productivity decline plus a 2.9% increase in hourly compensation.
US productivity in Q3 dropped 5.0%, the biggest slump in 40 years. Source: Bloomberg via ZeroHedge
