Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Initial claims were 229,000 for the week ending 6/1 (+8,000). Insured unemployment was 1,792,000 for the week ending 5/25 (+2,000). www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf pic.twitter.com/Bu9CBpWS5F

Big news in JOLTS: Job openings per unemployed back to what they were prior to COVID. This (plus openings alone) were the main labor market variable that had been shown more tightness than pre-COVID. (One can argue how tight pre-COVID was and trends in openings, but still.) pic.twitter.com/BnC6t2xjsZ

Job openings fell to their lowest level in more than three years in April, but quits rose and layoffs fell. (Hires were flat.) So net net probably the same story of a strong albeit gradually cooling labor market. #JOLTS Data: www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

Shock of shocks - labor productivity sees downward revisions, but bigger story is on the compensation side: look at inflation-adjusted wage growth - it was cut by more than half for Q1 '24 and cut all the way into negative territory for Q4 '23! pic.twitter.com/xUmfXyWCue