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 stood at 196,750 on 24 October 2026, compared to 198,000 on 17 October. This represents a decrease of 0.63 percent.
Sample. There are 3,118 records in the weekly series presented in the plot above. The time period covered by the series goes from January 1967 to October 2026.
History. Have a look at a few summary statistics we computed on the full sample: claims had a mean of 359,020; they peaked at 5,288,250 on 18 April 2020; they recorded a bottom of 179,000 on 17 May 1969.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Number of persons |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-10 | 198,750 |
| 2026-10-17 | 198,000 |
| 2026-10-24 | 196,750 |
Suggestion. A benefit of using FetchSeries is that we publish complete metadata. Find it below to gain insights on the attributes of the time series that you use in your work.
Not for investment purposes. Content available on FetchSeries is not meant for investment purposes or other financial decisions. Users should obtain expert advice and do their own independent due diligence before taking any financial risk.
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 | 3121 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-10-24 |
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3118 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-10-24 |
| Initial unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3121 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-10-24 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3120 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-10-17 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3117 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-10-17 |
| Continued unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3120 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-10-17 |
| Persons covered by unemployment insurance - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 2910 | 1971-01-02 | 2026-10-03 |