The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 10 thousand to 204 thousand in the week ending January 11th, compared to 214 thousand in the previous week and against markets expectations of 216 thousand new claims. It was the fourth consecutive week of decreases in jobless claims and the lowest level since the week ended November 30th, 2019. The 4-week moving average was 216,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 224,000. According to unadjusted data, the biggest declines in jobless claims were reported in New York (-21,395), Wisconsin (-4,364) and South Carolina (-2,978) while the highest rises were seen in California (15,844), Texas (8,857) and Missouri (3,023). Meantime, continuing jobless claims decreased by 37 thousand to 1767 thousand. Initial Jobless Claims in the United States averaged 350.76 Thousand from 1967 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 695 Thousand in October of 1982 and a record low of 162 Thousand in November of 1968. source: U.S. Department of Labor

Initial Jobless Claims in the United States is expected to be 216.00 Thousand by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Initial Jobless Claims in the United States to stand at 237.91 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United States Initial Jobless Claims is projected to trend around 267.12 Thousand in 2020, according to our econometric models.

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United States Initial Jobless Claims

Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
204.00 214.00 695.00 162.00 1967 - 2020 Thousand Weekly
Volume, SA


Calendar GMT Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2019-12-26 01:30 PM Dec/21 222K 235K 224K 215K
2020-01-02 01:30 PM 28/Dec 222K 224K 225K 222K
2020-01-09 01:30 PM 04/Jan 214K 223K 220K 219K
2020-01-16 01:30 PM 11/Jan 204K 214K 216K 219K
2020-01-23 01:30 PM 18/Jan 204K 215K 212K
Go to our Calendar for more events. Or learn more about the Calendar API for direct access.


News Stream
2020-01-09
US Jobless Claims Fall for 4th Straight Week
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 9 thousand to 214 thousand in the week ending January 4th, compared to an upwardly revised 223 thousand in the previous week and against markets expectations of 220 thousand new claims. It was the fourth consecutive week of decreases in jobless claims and the lowest level since the week ended November 30th, 2019. The 4-week moving average was 224,000, a decrease of 9,500 from the previous week's revised 233,500. According to unadjusted data, the biggest declines in jobless claims were reported in New Jersey (-7,642), Iowa (-5,299) and Ohio (-5,311) while the highest rises were seen in New York (+26,714), Georgia (+12,715) and South Carolina (+5,187). Meantime, continuing jobless claims increased by 75 thousand to 1803 thousand.

2020-01-02
US Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Fall
The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits edged down by 2 thousand to 222 thousand in the week ended December 28th from the previous week’s revised level of 224 thousand and compared with market expectations of 225 thousand. It is the lowest level since the week ended November 30th. The 4-week moving average was 233,250, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average and the highest since January 27th 2018 when it was 235,750, due to Thanksgiving Day. According to unadjusted data, the largest declines were reported in California (-15,368), Texas (-3,834) and Florida (-1,703) while the biggest increases were observed in New Jersey (+9,770); Michigan (+7,140) and Ohio (+5,328). Meantime, continuing jobless claims increased by 5 thousand to 1728 thousand.

2019-12-26
US Jobless Claims Fall in Latest Week
The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits decreased by 13 thousand to 222 thousand in the week ended December 21 from the previous week's upwardly revised 235 thousand and compared with market expectations of 224 thousand. According to unadjusted data, the largest declines were reported in Texas (-2,596), Georgia (-1,963) and New York (-1,882).

2019-12-19
US Jobless Claims Fall Less than Expected
The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits decreased by 18 thousand to 234 thousand in the week ended December 14th from the previous week’s unrevised level of 252 thousand and compared with market expectations of 225 thousand.

2019-12-12
US Jobless Claims Highest Since 2017
The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits increased by 49 thousand to 252 thousand in the week ended December 7 from the previous week's unrevised level of 203 thousand and well above market expectations of 213 thousand. This was the highest level for initial claims since September 30, 2017 when it was 257 thousand.

2019-12-05
US Jobless Claims Lowest Since September
The number of Americans filling for unemployment benefits decreased by 10 thousand to 203 thousand in the week ended November 30th from the previous week’s unrevised level of 213 thousand and compared with market expectations of 215 thousand. It is the lowest level since the week ended September 7th. According to unadjusted data, the largest declines were reported in California (-12,312), Texas (-5,915) and New York (-5,283).


United States Initial Jobless Claims
Initial jobless claims have a big impact in financial markets because unlike continued claims data which measures the number of persons claiming unemployment benefits, Initial jobless claims measures new and emerging unemployment.

United States Labour Last Previous Highest Lowest Unit
Unemployment Rate 3.50 3.50 10.80 2.50 percent [+]
Non Farm Payrolls 145.00 256.00 1118.00 -1959.00 Thousand [+]
Nonfarm Payrolls Private 139.00 243.00 1092.00 -1766.00 Thousand [+]
Government Payrolls 6.00 13.00 427.00 -260.00 Thousand [+]
Manufacturing Payrolls -12.00 58.00 655.00 -1715.00 Thousand [+]
Initial Jobless Claims 204.00 214.00 695.00 162.00 Thousand [+]
Continuing Jobless Claims 1767.00 1804.00 6635.00 988.00 Thousand [+]
ADP Employment Change 202.00 124.00 360.00 -706.00 Thousand [+]
Employed Persons 158803.00 158536.00 158803.00 57172.00 Thousand [+]
Unemployed Persons 5753.00 5811.00 15352.00 1596.00 Thousand [+]
Average Hourly Earnings 0.10 0.30 0.60 -0.20 percent [+]
Average Weekly Hours 34.30 34.30 34.60 33.70 Hours [+]
Labor Force Participation Rate 63.20 63.20 67.30 58.10 percent [+]
Long Term Unemployment Rate 0.72 0.74 4.40 0.08 percent [+]
Youth Unemployment Rate 8.10 8.00 19.50 4.80 percent [+]
Productivity 107.53 107.59 107.59 25.99 points [+]
Labour Costs 112.00 111.30 112.00 17.00 points [+]
Job Vacancies 7626.00 7095.00 7884.00 2157.00 Thousand [+]
Job Offers 6800.00 7361.00 7626.00 2264.00 Thousand [+]
Challenger Job Cuts 32843.00 44569.00 248475.00 15100.00 Persons [+]
Wages 23.79 23.77 23.79 2.50 USD/Hour [+]
Wages in Manufacturing 22.57 22.41 22.57 1.27 USD/Hour [+]
Wage Growth 5.34 5.03 13.78 -5.88 percent [+]
Minimum Wages 7.25 7.25 7.25 0.25 USD/Hour [+]
Employment Cost Index 0.70 0.60 2.00 0.20 percent [+]
Population 327.17 325.15 327.17 76.09 Million [+]
Retirement Age Women 66.00 66.00 66.00 66.00 [+]
Retirement Age Men 66.00 66.00 66.00 66.00 [+]
Employment Rate 61.00 61.00 64.70 54.90 percent [+]
Full Time Employment 131755.00 131562.00 131755.00 64640.00 Thousand [+]
Wages Low Skilled 1960.00 1760.00 2340.00 1760.00 USD/Month [+]
Wages High Skilled 4520.00 4330.00 4950.00 4330.00 USD/Month [+]
Part Time Employment 26992.00 26992.00 28134.00 10086.00 Thousand [+]
Living Wage Family 2380.00 2270.00 2380.00 2160.00 USD/Month [+]
Living Wage Individual 1660.00 1560.00 1660.00 1450.00 USD/Month [+]