Weekly · DOL via FRED
Continued Jobless Claims counts Americans who are actively collecting unemployment benefits week after week - people who lost their jobs and have not found new ones yet. Where initial claims measure the rate of firing, continued claims measure how hard it is to get re-hired. Elevated readings signal the labor market is not absorbing displaced workers quickly. Published weekly by the Department of Labor, one week behind initial claims.
Below 1.7 million suggests workers are being re-hired quickly - a sign of strong employer demand. Between 1.7-2.1 million is neutral. Above 2.5 million signals the labor market is struggling to reabsorb displaced workers even after initial layoffs slow. A rising trend in continued claims even when initial claims are stable means employers have stopped actively hiring replacements. During COVID continued claims peaked above 24 million, a level that overwhelmed state unemployment systems.
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