Freely Downloadable Data Sets Updated Daily

Initial unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly

This series is part of the dataset: Unemployment claims

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Latest updates. In the United States, seasonally unadjusted jobless claims stood at 313,140 on 6 December 2025, versus 198,173 on 29 November. This represents a rise of 58.01 percent.

Sample. In the weekly series shown in the chart, there are 3,075 observations in total. The series covers the period extending from January 1967 to December 2025.

History. Take a look at some statistics calculated on the whole sample: claims registered a minimum of 133,000 on 6 September 1969; they attained a maximum of 6,161,268 on 4 April 2020; they had a mean of 360,462.

Latest values

Date Value - Number of persons
2025-11-22 244713.0
2025-11-29 198173.0
2025-12-06 313140.0

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Series Metadata

Field Value
Description Initial unemployment claims (jobless claims)
Country United States
Economic concept Flow
Data type Quantity
Deflation method Not applicable
Seasonally adjusted No
Rescaling No
Frequency Weekly
Unit Number of persons
Source U.S. Department of Labor - Employment and Training Administration
Source type Federal Administration
Data licence Unknown
Measure type Level