EmailThe initial claims level declined from 421,000 for the week ending August 20 to 409,000 for the week ending August 27. The Briefing.com consensus expected the initial claims level to fall to 407,000.
The Department of Labor announced that striking Verizon workers had inflated the initial claims level for the weeks ending August 13 and August 20. These workers did not influence the data for the week ending August 27 and the claims level returned to slightly above what it was for the week ending August 6.
In reality, the initial claims level remained at nearly the same level as the previous week. There was no improvement in the labor sector.
It is important to note that initial claims remained below the upper bound (410,000) of our "Recovery Zone." At this level, nonfarm payrolls should exceed the 100,000 necessary to keep the unemployment rate stable.
The continuing claims level declined from an upwardly revised 3.753 million (from 3.630 million) for the week ending August 13 to 3.735 million for the week ending August 20. The consensus expected the continuing claims level to fall to 3.630 million.
The revision to the continuing claims level was sizable, but the Department of Labor gave no indication as to what caused it.
