Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 in the week ended Oct. 3 to a total 840,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, the third straight week of decline and the lowest level since March 14, the US Department of Labor reported today. However, concerns remain, and CNBC reported economists expected 825,000 new claims.
Separately, initial jobless claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program — which includes self-employed and gig economy workers among others — fell by 44,270 to a total of 464,437 (not seasonally adjusted).
And extended benefits claims rose by 84,129 in the week ended Sept. 19 to 352,479.
The rise in initial jobless claims has caused concern.
Glassdoor Economist/Data Scientist Daniel Zhao tweeted that the sluggish improvement in claims since August is concerning with recent news of layoffs and stalled stimulus negotiations.
The Associated Press noted that some economists are dubious about the PUA data because of potential miscounts and fraud. It also noted that jobless claims numbers overall have become less reliable as some states root out fraudulent claims and process applications that have piled up; as an example, it cited California, which accounts for a quarter of the US jobless claims. The state supplied the same figure last week as it did two weeks ago as it implements anti-fraud tech and deals with a backlog of claims.
The US Department of Labor said California will be filing revised jobless numbers.