Initial Jobless Claims Fall To Pandemic Lows But Over 16 Million Americans Remain ‘On The Dole’

After ADP’s disappointing gains in employment, all eyes are on this morning’s initial jobless claims print for any signal for Friday’s big payrolls data. For the first time since the pandemic, the number of first-time filers for jobless ebenfits dropped below 500k (498k to be specific)

Source: Bloomberg

California saw the biggest increase in first-time filers…

And while continuing claims ticked up very modestly last week (at 3.69mm from 3.65mm), the number of Americans on some form of government jobless benefit remains above 16 million…

Source: Bloomberg

Is that enough to keep the taper tantrum fears away a little longer?