Weekly Initial Claims

This weeks initial claim showed improvement, but before you get all giddy, consider that this is the Christmas hiring season so the numbers are very distorted currently as these are temporary jobs.  Initial Claims are the number of persons who filed for unemployment for the first time in the previous week.  The forecast number called for 434k and the actual headline number came in at 407k.  Until after the Christmas spending and returns season, we have to consider these numbers distortions.

 

The delta in revisions has come in considerably now that jobs have improved, I would expect them to get worse after the holiday spending season.