The numbers: New applications for unemployment benefits sank to a 52-year low of 184,000 in the week after Thanksgiving, reflecting great reluctance by companies to lay off workers during the biggest labor shortage in decades.
New filings tumbled by 43,000 in the seven days ended Dec. 4 from a revised 227,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Yet the surprisingly low number — it’s the lowest since September 1969 — appeared to stem largely from holiday-related quirks. The government’s method of adjusting jobless claims for changes in seasonal employment patterns often produces big swings around the holidays.
The raw or actual number of claims, for instance, rose sharply to 280,665 in early December from 216,985 two weeks ago.
Jekyll-and-Hyde U.S. jobs report not as ugly as it looks
Big picture: Jobless claims can be jumpy from Thanksgiving to the New Year’s holiday because of all the temporary hiring. Companies add lots of workers in the last few months of the year and let them go after Christmas.
What’s more, the pandemic has further skewed the government’s process for seasonal adjustments. That’s what happened last week.
Yet the number of people applying for benefits is still extremely low and likely to fall even further with the economy growing rapidly.
Companies don’t want to lay off any workers unless as a last resort because they might not be able to find replacements. They have a near-record 11 million jobs but not nearly enough people to fill them.
‘The Great Resignation’ slowed in October, but 4.2 million Americans still quit jobs
Key details: New jobless claims fell the most in the states of Virginia and North Carolina. They rose the most in California, New York and Texas.
The number of people already collecting state jobless benefits, known as continuing claims, rose by 38,000 to 1.95 million. They are still near pre-pandemic lows, however.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
and S&P 500
SPX,
were set to open slightly lower in Thursday trades.
