US Jobless Claims: Trend improvement but long road to recovery – Wells Fargo

Initial Jobless Claims fell under 1 million during the week ended August 8. In the first full week without the additional $600 weekly top-up from the federal government, fewer people filed first time claims for unemployment insurance continuing a trend decline over the past several weeks, explained analysts at Wells Fargo. 

Key Quotes: 

“There are only 5.9 million jobs available at last count compared to 16.3 million unemployed. For every job, there are three people who need it.”

“Initial jobless claims fell to 963K in the first full week of August. The level of claims is still higher than it ever was pre-pandemic and remains a glaring reminder that this recovery is only beginning, but it does feel good to be below 1M.”

“The 15.5M people still receiving benefits is down 9.4M from the peak in May, but still twice as high as during the financial crisis.”