Initial Claims Break a "Modern Era" Record; Just Remember When Inflation Crept Up

Initial Claims came in today at 270K, making this week the 22^nd straight week of sub-300K Initial Claims.

The low figure begs the question on how long can Initial Claims stay this low and what does it mean for Claims to be so low.

In the “modern era,” (presuming this means the 1990 to current period), Claims have never been able to stay so low for so long. The current 22-week streak is a record (following graphic).

But, if one looks further back to the late 1960s/early 1970s, it’s not a record.

[dalio]

Initial Claims went as low as 162K in November 1968, an incredibly low...