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We start today with some not so good news about the U.S. economy. Initial jobless claims are up. What does that mean? Why does it matter? Also known as first time unemployment claims, this is a number of Americans who are asking for government assistance because they just lost their jobs in layoffs or business cutbacks. The number is recorded weekly. And the U.S. government says last week 965,000 people filed for first time unemployment benefits.
The week before that had been done by 784,000 Americans. It's not the highest level it's ever seen. When the shutdowns peaked last March and April, the government says more than 6 million people filed initial jobless claims during two back to back weeks. But when you consider that the number averaged around 200,000 weekly in 2019, you can see how last week's measurement that approached 1 million is considerably higher. One prominent economist says part of the reason for the increase was the fact that a second stimulus package was passed in late December. That probably caused more people to apply for government benefits raising the jobless claims number. Another economic indicator, the U.S. Stock Market has seen pretty steady growth since November so that's a good sign.
