CONTINUING CLAIMS

While initial claims for unemployment remain steady, low, and no different than they were pre-Covid, at about 220,000 claims/week, it’s continuing claims that are raising mild alarm bells. From mid-2018 until Covid they were generally below 1.7 million/week. Since bottoming the week of 6/4/24 at 1.34 million they have steadily risen and hit a 38-month high of 1.89 million the week of 1/11/25, suggesting a rising unwillingness to hire.