Initial Jobless Claims rose 1k from last week but was 5k below forecasts at 434k. Continuing Claims fell again, by 179k, but was 27k above estimates. This carries benefits thru 26 weeks but the extended benefit levels past this still remain very elevated so the people falling out of Continuing Claims are just being classified in a different group but are still collecting. Extended benefits (delayed by a week), including EUC, rose by 164k. Thus, while the firing trends remain subdued, more people are still claiming benefits because they haven’t found new jobs yet. In some states, people can collect up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.
