Jobless claims yet again historically elevated, at 2.2 million. Don't be fooled by the monthly job growth, the damage to the economy continues to accumulate.
These numbers aren't a surprise, nor is the fact that people are still being laid off in significant numbers. You have to look through the data to see it, but the economy is not in the clear yet.
What we are seeing is that some businesses are coming back to work and rehiring temporary furloughs. This is generating lots of apparent job growth. But beneath this, there are businesses who are closing and others continue to shrink, turning temporary layoffs to permanent.
This isn't speculation. In addition to the UI claims data, we have research from Fed economists @UpdatedPriors, Grigsby, Kurz, and others using ADP data and telling a very similar story.
Here is the study, which frankly is the most important piece of research to read about the economy right now. If you want to understand why we are still seeing people file for unemployment, start here. brookings.edu/wp-content/upl…
What they found was that while overall employment has gone up, active employment among continuing businesses actually declined. Active means they are on the books, but includes workers being paid and not being paid.
In addition, while employment at shut down firms has declined, it has declined less than employment at re-entering firms has increased. This tells us new shutdowns are still happening. 
In this labor market more than ever, it is absolutely crucial to look at gross flows and not just net. Net is extraordinarily misleading, and paints a much more optimistic picture. Beneath the bounce-back that has begun, economic damage continues to build.
