Total Claims Collapse To Just 4.2 Million, Down 20 Million From A Year Ago, As Pandemic Benefits End

Initial jobless claims dropped below their recent range last week, falling to the second lowest level since the COVID-lockdowns crushed the economy. Only 326k Americans filed for jobless benefits for the first time last week, down from 364k last week and below the 348k expectation.

Extended benefits also dropped from 2.811 million a week ago to 2.714 million most recently, also below the 2.762 million expected.

But more importantly, now that all emergency benefits have expired, the end of the welfare state is being felt far and wide and after printing regularly above 12 million for much of the summer, and around 25 million a year ago…

…total benefits collapsed to just 4.173 million in week ending Sept 18, down from 5 million a week prior and down more than 20 million from the 24.6 million a year ago!

The nearly 7 million people who have lost benefits in the past two weeks will now be looking for work so look for some fireworks in the October jobs report when it prints one month from tomorrow.