The November Employment Report will be released on Friday morning. One of the few weekly labor market measures available are the weekly initial unemployment claims. This report shows the number of people who are filing their first claim for unemployment benefits after losing their jobs. In normal times the number ranges from 300,000 to 400,000 claims each week. Weekly reports, even when seasonally adjusted, bounce around a lot.
Many analysts prefer to track a four week moving average which is a bit less erratic.
Holidays, such as Thanksgiving, can give the weekly numbers some unusual bounces. In fact, with the coming Christmas and New Year's holidays, the weekly figures will be moving around erratically until sometime in January. Nevertheless, with a moving average or a monthly series, the claims can show us where things are headed. Initial claims have been rising. In last week's report they hit 358,000, the highest since July, 1998.