We have been tracking new weekly claims for unemployment insurance in California as an indicator of the state's labor market. For the week ending April 17, new claims were basically flat (little changed from the prior week). That result is disappointing after the big drop in the prior week. For the U.S. as a whole, new claims are dropping, whether on a seasonally-adjusted or unadjusted basis.
In terms of absolute values, new claims were over 72,000 in California. In the boom times just prior to the coronavirus downturn, they were in the vicinity of 40,000. So we have a way to go.
The latest data are at https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.
No comments:
Post a Comment