Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly
This series is part of the dataset: Unemployment claims
Download Full Dataset (.xlsx)Latest updates. In the United States, the 4-week average of seasonally adjusted jobless claims were 206,250 on 24 January 2026, compared to 204,000 on 17 January 2026. This constitutes a gain of 1.10 percent.
Sample. There are 3,079 records in the weekly series presented in the chart above. The series covers the time range going from January 1967 to January 2026.
History. Here are a few summary statistics we computed on the entire sample: claims were equal on average to 360,920; they reached a minimum of 179,000 on 17 May 1969; they recorded a maximum of 5,288,250 on 18 April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Number of persons |
|---|---|
| 2026-01-10 | 205250.0 |
| 2026-01-17 | 204000.0 |
| 2026-01-24 | 206250.0 |
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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 | Yes |
| 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 , 4-week average |
Series in the same data set
Discover the other time series included in this data set.
Unemployment claims
| Series Name | Observations | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3082 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-01-24 |
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3079 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-01-24 |
| Initial unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3082 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-01-24 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3081 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-01-17 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3078 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-01-17 |
| Continued unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3081 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-01-17 |
| Persons covered by unemployment insurance - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 2871 | 1971-01-02 | 2026-01-03 |