US Jobless Claims Dip to 197,000 in Late September
Initial unemployment claims fell by 1,000 in the week ending Sept. 26, holding near historically low levels as the labor market stays resilient.
New applications for unemployment benefits edged lower last week, signaling continued stability in the American labor market. Seasonally adjusted initial claims totaled 197,000 for the week ending September 26, down 1,000 from the prior week's revised figure, the Department of Labor reported.
The previous week's count was revised upward by 1,000, from an initially reported 197,000 to 198,000, a routine adjustment that had little effect on the overall trend. At 197,000, claims remain well below levels that economists typically associate with widespread layoffs.
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The four-week moving average, a smoother gauge that irons out week-to-week volatility, fell to 200,000 — a drop of 2,500 from the prior week's revised average of 202,500. That revised average was itself nudged up by 250 from the originally published 202,250, reflecting the department's standard backward corrections.
The sub-200,000 moving average underscores how few workers are being pushed into unemployment at this stage of the economic cycle, even as the Federal Reserve has maintained restrictive interest rates in an effort to cool inflation. Analysts often treat the four-week average as a more reliable signal of underlying labor-market health than any single week's print.
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