Jobless Claims: Steady, Still No Uptick

Bottom Line:  Jobless claims fell slightly last week, coming in below expectations for a modest increase. Claims have remained historically low and have shown no signs of edging higher, despite significant layoff announcements in the tech sector. To the extent the job losses have been in higher-paying sectors that offered severance pay, it may prove to be several months before jobless claims increase. Moreover, already lean workforces in services businesses that support the tech may mean that cross-industry job losses are lower. For now, the trend in jobless claims has remained impressively low, with the 4- and 13-week moving averages hovering around 196k.Initial Jobless Claims were nearly unchanged in the week ended March 18th, -1k to 191k, BELOW the 4-week average of 196.25k, BELOW the 13-week average of 197.15385k but 25k ABOVE the year-ago level. Non-seasonally adjusted Claims FELL -4.659k.

Continuing Claims ROSE 14k in the week ended March 11th to 1.694M, ABOVE the 4-week average of 1.684M, ABOVE the 13-week average of 1.675615M and 152k ABOVE the year-ago level. Continuing Claims for the 4th of Mar were revised down from +1.684M to +1.68M.