Initial claims for unemployment in regular state programs rose by 2,000 to 373,000 for the week ended July 3, the Labor Department reported today. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for initial claims to drop to 350,000.
Now this may be disappointing to those hoping for evidence that the recovery from the pandemic recession is racing toward completion and that the economy is going from one strength to the next, but the data are a very thin reed to use to support headlines about growth worries in the economy like those I’ve seen today.
Continuing claims for regular state programs fell to a pandemic low of 3.34 million in the week ended June 26.
Considering how dirty this data tends to be, states aren’t especially good at getting out accurate numbers on time, and that these are seasonally adjusted numbers today’s report is a nothin’ burger.
Or as we used to yell on the ball field, No batter. No batter.
