By Tyler Durden
Despite the dismal payrolls print, initial jobless claims continue to slide back towards pre-COVID crisis levels, with a better than expected 444,000 Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits last week (despite 8.1 million job openings).
Source: Bloomberg
While that is the lowest since the pandemic began, it is still double the pre-COVID norms.
New Jersey, Washington, and Oklahoma saw the biggest jumps in claims while Georgia, Kentucky and Texas saw the biggest improvements.
Disappointingly, continuing jobless claims rose for the first time since January and the most since Thanksgiving week…
Source: Bloomberg
And overall, there are still around 16 million Americans on some form of government dole…
Source: Bloomberg
With 11.7 million specifically on Pandemic-based handouts…
So 16 million ‘on the dole’ and 8.1 million job openings?
