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Initial unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted; 4-week average) - 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, the 4-week average of seasonally adjusted jobless claims stood at 216,750 on 6 December 2025, versus 214,750 on 29 November. This marks a gain of 0.93 percent.

Sample. This weekly series has 3,072 data points. The span of time covered by the series stretches from January 1967 to December 2025.

History. Take a look at a few simple statistics computed on the entire sample: claims averaged 361,260; they hit a minimum of 179,000 on 17 May 1969; they peaked at 5,288,250 on 18 April 2020.

Latest values

Date Value - Number of persons
2025-11-22 224000.0
2025-11-29 214750.0
2025-12-06 216750.0

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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