To see today’s jobless claims and the food bank lines around the country, one has to wonder why it’s taken Congress so long to push through a stimulus bill. Perhaps today is the day. The number of new claims filed last week exceeded estimates by about 10%. Economists expected a little more than 800,000 claims to be filed. Instead, the number totaled 885,000. The AP quotes Edward Moya, an analyst at the currency trading firm OANDA:
“U.S. weekly jobless claims continue to head in the wrong direction… The labor market outlook is bleak as the winter wave of the virus is going to lead to more shutdowns.″
Jobless claims nearing 900k is a calamity. Perhaps stocks take it all in stride, but this is real people losing work and income as we near the holidays. The idea that we could ignore the virus and have better economic outcomes has proven false. 2020 didn't suck. We sucked in 2020
— Steve Liesman (@steveliesman) December 17, 2020
And some economists are worried things will get worse before they get better. Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel, told CNBC: These numbers “really highlight the fragility of the labor market, particularly now as the second resurgence of the coronavirus [is] leading to further business closures and additional job losses.” Keep in mind that there are a lot of seasonal workers over the holidays, that will also be out of work after Christmas.
Watch more reaction above from CNBC.
