Jobless claims fall last week, layoffs rise in September
Brian Sozzi and Julie Hyman discuss the Challenger Gray report and the jobs data the report discloses, which offers a closer look at the track of the economic recovery.
Video Transcript
- Now, I mentioned also that there is economic data this morning. So let's get to that now because it has to do with jobs. And we've got the monthly jobs report tomorrow. This morning, we got jobless claims. And we saw them falling last week to the lowest in a month, coming in at 326,000. That is a drop of 38,000 from the prior week. It's also below what economists had been estimating.
As I mentioned, the jobs report we will be getting for September tomorrow. The estimate for that is for a gain of 500,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5.1%, which would be an improvement on both counts. And Salz, we also got the Challenger Gray hiring report this morning as well. And hiring plans rose in September to the highest level in data going back to 2004. 939,800 is announced hiring intentions. As you can see, job cuts continue to go down as well.
- I do want to flag something, Julie, here on this challenge report. I always enjoy reading this. It's very telling. But look, I locked in on what they said about in the health care system jobs. In September, health care lost 2,673 jobs. Doesn't sound like much. But you look at what Challenger brought to the attention here is that this might reflect the first round of people leaving jobs because of new vaccine mandates.
I could speak from experience. You know, I have some friends in the health care industry. And they have recently left for whatever reason working in the health care field and hospitals because they do not want to get the vaccine. So this may now be something you have to watch come jobs reports days this fall. Maybe not necessarily this report coming up tomorrow, Julie, but moving forward. How do vaccine mandates impact the return to job hiring in this country, not just in health care, but of course, many large companies which are now have either put these mandates in or they are about to kick in very soon.
- Well, and that's not just in health care, of course. But those campaigns have also resulted in an enormous number of people who have finally gotten vaccinated. And it should be noted as well.
- And Julie, real quick. Where do they go? Where do these people go? Because if you're a former nurse or former doctor, you don't want to take the vaccine, well, you know what, the local gas station that you might have to be working at to make ends meet, you might need a vaccine to work there as well. So it could be a very interesting few months for jobs trends.
- Well, maybe you should just suck it up and get the vaccine then--
- Absolutely
- --if you're of those individuals if you want to keep making a living. But I was just going to say as well, health care workers, we're seeing a shortage even before this current situation. You know, we've talked to Meg Fitzgerald, who's a health care investor and former nurse, consistently about this issue that the health care industry has. And if you're someone who's considering a career in health care and you're looking at the last 18 months, forget about vaccine mandates.
We know very well. We've seen it all over the news. This is not an easy-- it's not an easy job to have in the best of times. And to be sure, the last year and a half has not been the best of times for those health care workers. So, obviously, we need them. We appreciate them. And we recognize that it is a very challenging job to have. So let's then-- this is a mental note for you and I to pay a lot of attention to that segment in the jobs report tomorrow as well.
