Employment holds steady: Unemployment claims drop to 197,000 last week of September
The four-week moving average also declined. It stood at 200,000 claims, 2,500 fewer than the revised average for the previous week, which was revised from 202,250 to 202,500.
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New claims for unemployment benefits in the country fell by 1,000 during the week ending September 26 to 197,000, according to data released on Thursday by the Department of Labor.
The seasonally adjusted figure was lower than the 198,000 claims recorded the previous week, a figure that was revised upward from the 197,000 initially reported.
The four-week moving average also declined. It stood at 200,000 claims, 2,500 fewer than the revised average for the previous week, which was revised from 202,250 to 202,500.
Unemployment insurance claims also declined
The number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits stood at 1.701 million for the week ending September 19, representing a decrease of 11,000 from the revised level of the previous week.
The unemployment rate among those eligible for benefits remained at 1.1%, unchanged from the previous week. The four-week moving average of people eligible for unemployment benefits fell by 18,500 to 1.723 million.
On a year-over-year basis, the number of insured unemployed was also lower: a year earlier, it stood at 1.921 million, compared with the 1.701 million recorded in the week of September 19, 2026. The rate was 1.3% at that time, compared with the current 1.1%.
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California, New York and Texas account for some of the highest figures
In the seasonally unadjusted data, initial claims reached 156,738 during the week ending September 26, 7,979 fewer than the previous week, representing a 4.8% decline. In the same week of 2025, there were 179,162 claims.
By state, California recorded 34,642 new claims, followed by New York with 12,397 and Texas with 12,296. New Jersey recorded 7,270 and Pennsylvania 7,355.
As for the largest increases in applications during the week ending September 19, California saw an increase of 2,352, followed by Hawaii with 1,524; New York, with 868; Texas, with 768; and Illinois, with 738. The largest decreases occurred in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Arkansas, Puerto Rico and Washington.
The states with the highest insured unemployment rates for the week ending September 12 were New Jersey (2.1%), Massachusetts and Washington (1.8%), California and Puerto Rico (1.7%), Nevada and Oregon (1.6%), New York and Rhode Island (1.5%), and Illinois (1.4%).
Claims remain below 2025 levels
The Department of Labor explains that initial claims are a leading economic indicator, as they reflect emerging labor market conditions, although it cautions that these are weekly administrative data subject to some volatility.
Continuing claims roughly reflect the number of insured unemployed workers who are claiming benefits and serve as an indicator of labor market conditions.
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