Weekly jobless claims surge to 241,000, more than expected, in latest sign of economic trouble

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Thu, May 1 2025 8:33 AM EDT | Updated 9 Min Ago


Initial unemployment claims posted an unexpected increase last week in a potential trouble sign for the wobbling U.S. economy.

First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ending April 26, up 18,000 from the prior period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. This was the highest total since Feb. 22.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind and provide a broader view of layoff trends, rose to 1.92 million, up 83,000 to the highest level since Nov. 13, 2021.

Much of the gain seemed to come from one state — New York, where claims more than doubled to 30,043, according to unadjusted data. There was no apparent reason for the surge listed in the news release. The District of Columbia, which had seen a sharp increase earlier this year amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government payroll, saw a modest increase last week. The report comes amid several trouble signs for the economy, though the labor market has remained stable.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/01/weekly-jobless-claims-surge-to-241000.html

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Unemployment rate comes out tomorrow. From the source (PDF) - https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20250501

Article updated.

Previous articles -

Published Thu, May 1 2025 8:33 AM EDT | Updated 1 Min Ago


Initial unemployment claims posted an unexpected increase last week in a potential trouble sign for the wobbling U.S. economy.

First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 241,000 for the week ending April 26, up 18,000 from the prior period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind and provide a broader view of layoff trends, rose to 1.92 million, up 83,000 to the highest level since Nov. 13, 2021.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Published Thu, May 1 20258:33 AM EDT | Updated 4 Min Ago


Initial unemployment claims posted an unexpected increase last week in a potential trouble sign for the wobbling U.S. economy.

First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 241,000 for the week ending April 26, up 18,000 from the prior period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Original article -

Published Thu, May 1 20258:33 AM EDT


This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

[mnhtnbb]

1. Gee, what a surprise.

Not

Idiot a$$hole Republicans and their felonious fascist orange turd.

[marble falls]

2. His campaign slogan for his third term: "I broke it, only I can fix it."

[mdbl]

9. He won't fix anything

He'll just claim he did.

[marble falls]

17. Just like always. Your point?

[mdbl]

18. same as yours it appears

[hatrack]

3. More Than Expected!! Oh Noes!!! OMGWTF!!!

[NCDem47]

4. All Biden's fault!

Will Trump still be using that excuse in 2028?

[newdeal2]

6. He's still blaming Obama

So all signs point to YES

[BeyondGeography]

8. Yup, that Biden job market

Pre-programmed to deteriorate just in time for alarming data at Trump’s 100-day mark. Evil Genius Joe.

[surfered]

5. It's Biden's fault...

[jmbar2]

7. It's worse than that... DOGE severance terms prevented the fired workers from filing for UE!

Initial jobless claims in the United States rose by 18,000 to 241,000 in the week ending April 26, the highest since February and well above market expectations of 224,000.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, initial claims increased by 12,901 to 223,614, mainly in New York (+15,525) and Massachusetts (+3,251). In the meantime, outstanding jobless claims rose by 83,000 to 1,916,000 in the week ended April 19, the highest since November 2021 and also above market expectations of 1,860,000.

Initial unemployment claims filed under programs for Federal government employees, which have been under close scrutiny due to firings by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), fell by 187 people to 470. Despite the relatively low number, reports that many firings by DOGE were done with severance packages prevent employees from claiming benefits immediately after being terminated. source: U.S. Department of Labor

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/jobless-claims

[70sEraVet]

13. Also, since many of the federal workers were fired for "poor performance",

they may not be eligible for unemployment benefits. Some pain does not show up in those numbers.

[MichMan]

15. Why should people still getting paid receive unemployment on top of it?

They would be making more than they did working. Always has been that way.

[Owens]

16. This is how Trump and Elon kept these fired people from showing up on unemployment numbers

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Re New York

An analyst was saying that NY teachers can file a claim for Spring Break week stuff. So it might be a bit of a blip. But I remember that from a couple of weeks ago some "Empire State" manufacturing statistic dropped.

We are in the murky phase for "hard data". It might be starting to show up a bit or maybe it isn't showing up yet. I think the trend will soon be clearer and is likely to be a down trend for the economy.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. You will see "blips" when there are large strikes and/or when there are temporary furloughs

Where this will kick in - at least federally - is after the supposed June 1st date that I have seen cited that was part of actual RIF notices given to some of the latest batches of removals, and that attempted to follow the law requiring giving 60 days notice (which might still be subject to court orders since NONE of that was done through Congressional legislation and violated the Impoundment Act).

[Marthe48]

12. Dock workers and truckers coming up

Really any workers in any segment of the economy will soon join the ranks of the unemployed.

The idiots who voted for felon will be shocked. The rest of us, well, we could see it would happen, but we will still suffer.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. The car assembly lines were about to be next

until some modifications were made to the tariffs regarding some of the stuff they utilize but that might not be enough.

[Prairie Gates]

19. We have condition red and we are definitely expecting rain