Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to 197,000 in Late September
Initial unemployment claims edged down 1,000 to 197,000 for the week ending Sept. 26, while the four-week average also declined.
The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell slightly in the final week of September, the Labor Department reported, signaling continued resilience in the U.S. labor market. Seasonally adjusted initial claims totaled 197,000 for the week ending September 26, a decrease of 1,000 from the prior week's revised level.
The previous week's figure was revised upward by 1,000, from 197,000 to 198,000, a routine adjustment that slightly tempered the week-over-week improvement. Even so, the reading remains historically low, consistent with a job market where layoffs have stayed subdued despite broader economic uncertainty.
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The four-week moving average, a smoothed measure that analysts watch to strip out weekly volatility, dropped to 200,000 — a decline of 2,500 from the prior week's revised average of 202,500. That average had itself been nudged up by 250 from an initially reported 202,250. The downward trend in the rolling average points to underlying labor demand that has held firm through the third quarter.
Initial jobless claims at or near 200,000 have historically been associated with tight labor conditions. Economists and Federal Reserve officials monitor the weekly figures closely for early signals of softening in the job market, particularly as the central bank weighs the path of interest rates.
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