With seasonality over, it is clear that Omicron is responsible for increased layoffs With seasonality behind us, it is apparent that Omicron has resulted in increased layoffs. New claims declined 30,000 last week to 260,000 – still well above its pandemic low of 188,000 set early in December. The 4 week average of new claims increased 15,000 to 247,000: Continuing claims for jobless benefits rose for the second week in a row, by 51,000 to 1,575,000, 120,000 above its 50 year low set two weeks ago: Last week I wrote “The effects of Omicron are going to continue for at least a few more weeks. The quirks of seasonality should resolve after another week. Until I see more going on, I do not see any reason to overreact to the
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With seasonality over, it is clear that Omicron is responsible for increased layoffs
With seasonality behind us, it is apparent that Omicron has resulted in increased layoffs.
New claims declined 30,000 last week to 260,000 – still well above its pandemic low of 188,000 set early in December. The 4 week average of new claims increased 15,000 to 247,000:
Continuing claims for jobless benefits rose for the second week in a row, by 51,000 to 1,575,000, 120,000 above its 50 year low set two weeks ago:
Last week I wrote “The effects of Omicron are going to continue for at least a few more weeks. The quirks of seasonality should resolve after another week. Until I see more going on, I do not see any reason to overreact to the last two weeks’ big increase in claims.” At this point, it seems clear that Omicron has had a significant impact. At the same time, with cases nationwide down 20% from the peak as of today, I still suspect Omicron will be behind us by the end of February. So I still do not see a big reason to overreact to this increase in claims, to what is still in the long run an excellent number.