Despite Ongoing Mass Corporate Layoffs, Govt-Supplied Jobless Claims Data Continues To Decline

As mass corporate layoffs continue to mount, with CSCO the latest to announce (a 5% global workforce reduction), why should we be shocked that expectations were for a very small rise in initial jobless claims (from 218k to 220k) last week.

Source: Layoffs.fyi

What does that look like - in the real world labor market - in 2024...

1. Twitch: 35% of workforce
2. Roomba: 31% of workforce
3. Hasbro: 20% of workforce
4. LA Times: 20% of workforce
5. Spotify: 17% of workforce
6. Levi's: 15% of workforce
7. Xerox: 15% of workforce
8. Qualtrics: 14% of workforce
9. Wayfair: 13% of workforce
10. Duolingo: 10% of workforce
11. Washington Post: 10% of workforce
12: Snap: 10% of workforce
13. eBay: 9% of workforce
14. Business Insider: 8% of workforce
15. Paypal: 7% of workforce
16. Okta: 7% of workforce
17. Charles Schwab: 6% of workforce
18. Docusign: 6% of workforce
19: CISCO: 5% of workforce
20. UPS: 2% of workforce
21. Blackrock: 3% of workforce
22. Paramount: 3% of workforce
23. Citigroup: 20,000 employees
24. Pixar: 1,300 employees

And here's the government-supplied statistics...

Instead, the number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the first time decline to 212k (of course it f**king did!)...

Source: Bloomberg

Missouri saw by far the biggest decline in initial claims (NSA) while Kentucky and California saw big jumps...

However, Continuing Claims ticked up from 1.86mm to 1.895mm (above exp of 1.88mm)...

Source: Bloomberg

As a reminder, here's what Richmond Fed governor Tom Barkin warned last week:

"I am cautious about accuracy of numbers around the turn of the year."

Cautious all year round more like...