"Here Come The Layoffs"; Jobless Claims Rise To 8 Month High As Continuing Claims Unexpectedly Soar

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time jumped to 247k last week (above the 239k expected) - the highest since October 2024...

A breakdown of weekly claims changes finds widespread increase in weekly claims filings, with the biggest increases in California, Minnesota and Pennsylvania,, and the biggest drops in Kentucky and North Dakota.

Commenting on the result, Southbay Research writes, “here come the layoffs” and notes that “if you expected white collar layoffs in IT, Healthcare/Pharma, and DEI, these States would probably show it”, to wit:

• California: +9K Initial Claims, +31K Continuing Claims
• Massachusetts: +2K, +8K
• New York: +2K, +4K
• Washington: +0.5, +4K

Continuing claims not only remained above the 1.9 million Americans level for the third week in a row, but unexpectedly spiked to the highest level since November 2021, at 1.956 million, well above the 1.190 million expected...

...with the DOGE-inspired 'Deep Tristate' region seeing claims surge to their highest since Dec 2021

Commenting on the report, Bloomberg's economists write that while initial jobless claims remained elevated in early June, but only slightly higher than in the corresponding week last year, it was the “surge in continuing claims points to further downward pressure on the labor market, with newly unemployed workers struggling to find new jobs.”

Employers are cautious about growth prospects, leading to relatively a weak hiring rate and making it difficulty for those who lose jobs to find new ones.

So yes, the layoffs are coming, and meanwhile despite Musk's obvious disappointment at the One Big Beautiful Bill's lack of spending cuts, he can be proud that he did his part to shrink the workforce of the leviathan.