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 237,750 on 20 September 2025, versus 240,250 on 13 September. This constitutes a reduction of 1.04 percent.
Sample. There are 3,061 records in the weekly series displayed in the chart above. The series covers the time range stretching from January 1967 to September 2025.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few summary statistics computed on the entire sample: claims were equal on average to 361,750; they reached their minimum of 179,000 on 17 May 1969; they hit a maximum of 5,288,250 on 18 April 2020.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Number of persons |
|---|---|
| 2025-09-06 | 240750.0 |
| 2025-09-13 | 240250.0 |
| 2025-09-20 | 237750.0 |
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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: Unemployment claims
| Series Name | Observations | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3065 | 1967-01-07 | 2025-09-27 |
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3061 | 1967-01-28 | 2025-09-20 |
| Initial unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3065 | 1967-01-07 | 2025-09-27 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3065 | 1967-01-07 | 2025-09-27 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3060 | 1967-01-28 | 2025-09-13 |
| Continued unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3065 | 1967-01-07 | 2025-09-27 |
| Persons covered by unemployment insurance - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 2857 | 1971-01-02 | 2025-09-27 |