The number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell in the latest week, though jobless claims remain elevated when compared to the beginning of this year. First-time filers as measured by Initial Claims totaled 235,000, while 1.851 million people are continuing to receive benefits after filing their initial claim.
What’s the bottom line? Both Initial and Continuing Claims have trended higher throughout June and July, with Continuing Claims topping 1.8 million for the past seven weeks. This shows that the pace of layoffs over the last two months has picked up at the same time employers have slowed down hiring.