Weekly jobless claims post lowest reading since September 2022
Source: CNBC
The labor market continued to show surprising resiliency in the early days of 2024, with initial jobless claims posting an unexpected drop last week.
Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 187,000 for the week ended Jan. 13, the lowest level since Sept. 24, 2022, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The total marked a 16,000 decline from the previous week and came in below the Dow Jones estimate of 208,000.
Labor strength has persisted despite attempts by the Federal Reserve to slow the economy, and the jobs market in particular, through a series of interest rate hikes. Central bank policymakers have linked the supply-demand mismatch between companies and the available labor pool as an ingredient that had sent inflation to its highest level in more than 40 years.
Along with the drop in weekly claims came an unexpected decline of 26,000 in continuing claims, which run a week behind. The total for continuing claims hit 1.806 million, below the FactSet estimate for 1.83 million.
Chipotle Wants to Hire 19,000 Workers for Busy Spring Season, Will Offer New Financial Perks by Amelia Lucas
January 24, 2024
Introduction:
(CNBC Chipotle Mexican Grill hopes to recruit 19,000 new employees to make its burritos and bowls this spring, the company said Wednesday.
The company's hiring target suggests it's expecting an even busier spring than usual, despite another round of menu price hikes in October. The chain's recruitment goal is about 27% higher than a year ago, when it sought 15,000 new workers for its so-called burrito season in March through May.
For Chipotle, having enough workers becomes even more important during its busy period. The chain needs plenty of employees to meet higher demand. The spring weather lures back Chipotle customers who stayed away during the winter months, but the chain's concentration in college towns means sales usually slow in the summer.
Chipotle has more than 110,00 workers currently.
Attracting workers has become more difficult for the restaurant industry in recent years, largely due to the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of restaurant jobs disappeared as bars and eateries shuttered, either temporarily or permanently. Industry veterans switched to white-collar or warehouse jobs, seeking safety from Covid-19, better working conditions or both. In September, the restaurant workforce finally bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, according to Department of Labor data.
Kind of a big deal as the finish line is officially in sight now with 2.0% being the goal.
Powell landed this thing remarkably well. The growth we saw reported yesterday is pretty amazing considering the constraints that are currently holding the economy back.
At full employment, growth over 3%, real wages up since 2019 (means wage growth > than inflation over that time period), PCE heading to the goal of 2.0% quickly. And all of this with interest rates above where they usually are. We have interest rate cuts coming and that's going to grow the economy.
And through all of this, the interest rate hikes didn't cool off the housing market, so there will be no bubble bursting.
Not to rub it in (too much) but I think I was just about the only person in this forum who doubted that the economy would go into recession in 2023. I indicated that if it did go into a recession, it would be mild. So, I did hedge my bet a little bit.
