US Jobless Claims: Labor market’s recovery is occurring in fits – Wells Fargo

Data released on Thursday showed an unexpected but modest increase in jobless claims. Analysts at Wells Fargo point out jobless claims highlight the fragility of the labor market recovery. They see the trend in initial claims stalling. 

Key Quotes: 

“The labor market’s recovery is occurring in fits and starts, with initial jobless claims ticking up to 870K last week. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims tumbled, but recipients of all programs remain around 26M.”

“Initial jobless claims for regular state benefits edged up last week on both a seasonally and non-seasonally adjusted basis, illustrating the still fragile state of the labor market’s recovery.”

“As more workers are exhausting regular state benefits, the recipients of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Claims, which provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits, rose to 1.63M. Between the two programs, however, benefit rolls edged lower.”