Jobless Claims Hold at Historically Low Levels
Initial and continuing claims remain very subdued, both down from a year earlier.
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Initial jobless claims for the week ending September 5: 206,000 (estimate 205,000; previous 206,000; revised previous 207,000).
Continuing claims for the week ending August 29: 1,774,000 (estimate 1,780,000; previous 1,779,000; revised previous 1,775,000).
After bottoming at 189,000 seven weeks ago — the joint-lowest reading since 1969 — initial jobless claims have moved moderately higher, but not much, coming in at 206,000 in the week through September 5 (from a revised 207,000 the prior week). That is a very low number historically and remains within the relatively narrow range since November 2021.
The four-week average fell 1,500 also to 206,000 (roughly 33,000 lower year-over-year).
Continuing claims (seasonally adjusted) in the week through August 29 (one week lagged) fell 1,000 to 1.774 million (after a 4,000 downward revision to the prior week), pushing to the low end of their range since mid-2023 (roughly 1.75 million to 2.0 million), also historically low though not quite as low as initial claims.
The four-week average of continuing claims fell 1,750 to 1.779 million, remaining lower year over year for a 31st straight week (down 162,000), just off the largest such gap since December 2022 — evidence that while workers may be having a harder time finding a new job, the deterioration in that metric has for now reversed.
The 20-year pre-pandemic average for initial claims is 345,000 and continuing claims roughly 2.9 million.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
