It’s jobless Thursday, and initial jobless claims rose by 137,000 to 853,000 last week, an almost 20% jump in claims.

I have long maintained that the current “recovery” is a dead cat bounce^*, and while one week does not make a trend, when combined with the recent Covid explosion, strongly suggest that we are in for a bumpy ride:

The economic recovery has downshifted, with job growth slowing and layoffs persisting at a high level amid rising coronavirus cases and related restrictions.

The number of workers seeking unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, climbed sharply by 137,000 to 853,000 last week, the Labor Department reported.

The level of applications was the highest since September, but still well down from a peak of nearly seven million in late March. The number of applications for a separate federal pandemic program also rose sharply last week.

The claims figures add to signs the recovery continues, but at a cooler pace. Job growth eased in November and the number of job openings edged down in early December. The labor market’s partial rebound has been a key component in the overall economic recovery from a pandemic-related downturn in the spring.

………

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month cut their projections for economic growth and job creation in the first quarter of 2021, but they expect the expansion to accelerate later in the year after coronavirus vaccines are more widely available.

 This will not end well.^†

^*I’ve been talking how the current “recovery” is a Dead Cat Bounce, which posits that. “even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height”, for a while now.
^†Thanks to my brother, Bear Who Swims, for a new catch phrase.