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 203,250 on 12 September 2026, compared to 206,000 on 5 September 2026. This constitutes a decrease of 1.33 percent.
Sample. There are 3,112 observations overall in the weekly time series presented in the plot above. The series covers the time span stretching from January 1967 to September 2026.
History. Here's a snapshot of a few simple statistics calculated on the whole sample: claims had an average value of 359,328; they peaked at 5,288,250 on 18 April 2020; they recorded a minimum of 179,000 on 17 May 1969.
Latest values
| Date | Value - Number of persons |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-29 | 207500.0 |
| 2026-09-05 | 206000.0 |
| 2026-09-12 | 203250.0 |
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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 | 3115 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-09-12 |
| Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3112 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-09-12 |
| Initial unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3115 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-09-12 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3114 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-09-05 |
| Continued unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3111 | 1967-01-28 | 2026-09-05 |
| Continued unemployment claims (not seasonally adjusted) - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 3114 | 1967-01-07 | 2026-09-05 |
| Persons covered by unemployment insurance - United States - Department of Labor - Weekly | 2904 | 1971-01-02 | 2026-08-22 |