Labor market stats

Initial jobless claims remained subdued at 199k vs 198k last week and 6k under the estimate. The 4 week average falls further to just 199k vs 203k in the week before. Continuing claims though ticked up to 1.801mm from 1.777mm but also about 100k ish below what we saw consistently last year.

The story remains the same here with the muted pace of firing’s as measured here and a modest pick up in the pace of hiring relative to last year when mostly small business hiring froze up immediately after ‘Liberation Day’ and which lasted until January this year. We’ve seen a nice rebound since.