November 4, 2021

Challenger Job-Cut Report  (October 2021)

- Announced layoffs         22,822. Previous was  17,895 

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas

 

Trade Deficit  (September 2021)

- Deficit $80.9 billion.  Previous was $72.8 billion.

This is a component of 3rdQ GDP.

Source:  BEA  Details:  https://www.bea.gov/data/intl-trade-investment/international-trade-goods-and-services

 

Initial Jobless Claims (week ended 10/30/2021)

- Initial Claims seasonally adjusted  269,000. Previous was 283,000

- Initial Claims unadjusted, totaled 240,216 in the week ending October 30, a decrease of 7,114 (or -2.9 percent) from the previous week

- 4-Week Moving Average seasonally adjusted  284,750. Previous was  299,750

Number following are for week ended 10/16:

Total receiving regular state UI decreased by 180,483 

Total receiving Pandemic UI increased by  7,096 

Total receiving Emergency Pandemic UI decreased by 10,695 

Total receiving any UI decreased by 157,731  

2,672,948  were receiving some UI benefit.  1 year previous there were 22,013,937 receiving UI.

Source:  Labor Department   Details: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

 

Productivity and Costs (3rdQ2020)

- Nonfarm Productivity - Annual Rate    -5.0%. Previous was 2.4%

- Unit Labor Costs - Annual Rate    8.3%. Previous was 1.1%

Productivity is GDP/total Labor Cost

Source:  BLS   Details: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm