Jobless claims: Another 1.31 million Americans file for unemployment benefits

Another 1.314 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 4, below economists’ expectations for 1.375 million initial jobless claims. The prior week’s figure was revised lower to 1.41 million from the previously reported 1.43 million.

Weekly jobless claims have decelerated for 14 consecutive weeks; however, nearly 50 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance over the past four months.

Closely watched continuing claims, which lag initial jobless claims data by one week, totaled 18.06 million in the week ending June 27 from 18.76 million in the prior week. Consensus expectations were for 18.75 million for the week.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER 31 MILLION people who filed for unemployment

“Continuing claims increased in Texas, Florida, and California [in the week ending June 27], which are all experiencing a resurgence of the virus and have begun to roll back reopening measures. In turn, we expect this week's initial jobless claims to remain roughly steady and will closely monitor continuing claims, particularly in the aforementioned states that have rolled back reopening measures,” Deutsche Bank said in a note July 2. “As we highlighted recently, continued spread of the virus remains a significant downside risk to the outlook as about 30-50% of GDP comes from counties that have seen worsening covid trends.”

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