EmailThe initial claims level declined from an upwardly revised 389,000 (from 383,000) for the week ending May 26 to 377,000 for the week ending June 2. The Briefing.com consensus expected the initial claims level to decline to 375,000.
After seeing claims reach their highest point since January (excluding the biases surrounding the Easter holiday), it is a positive sign that claims declined this week. The move, however, was not strong enough to suggest that last week’s increase was the result of temporary volatility. With claims still hovering near 380,000, the drop simply implies that labor market conditions are still softer than they were during the winter. We suspect that payroll growth will top 100,000 in June, but claims at 380,000 do not indicate a return to a 200,000 plus monthly job gain in the near future. The continuing claims level increased from an upwardly revised 3.259 mln (from 3.242 mln) for the week ending May 19 to 3.293 mln for the week ending May 26. The consensus pegged the continuing claims level at 3.250 million.
