U.S. jobless claims fall to 194,000 as hiring remains slow
Key Facts
U.S. seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 194,000 in the week ended October 17, according to a Labor Department release issued on October 22, 2026. Claims declined by 6,000 from the previous week, indicating that layoffs remained low while hiring continued to be slow, according to the Associated Press's description of the labor market. The reading was below expectations of 200,000 claims, according to EL7.AI's economic calendar. The Labor Department revised claims for the week ended October 10 up to 200,000 from the previously reported 199,000. In the year-earlier comparison, seasonally adjusted initial claims stood at 231,000 in the corresponding week of the previous year, according to the department's table.
The decline extended to the four-week average of initial claims, which stood at 197,750 in the week ended October 17, according to the Labor Department. The previous revised average was 198,750, marking a weekly decline of 1,000 claims. On a basis not adjusted for seasonal factors, initial claims totaled 172,390 in the same week. That compared with 191,711 in the week ended October 10, a decline of 19,321. The seasonally adjusted weekly reading remains close to the level of 189,000 recorded in mid-July, according to Reuters. The July reading was the lowest since 1969, remaining the recent historical low against which current levels are compared.
By contrast, seasonally adjusted continuing jobless claims rose to 1,728,000 in the week ended October 10, according to the Labor Department. The weekly increase was 25,000 claims. The revised reading for the week ended October 3 was 1,703,000. The average of continuing claims rose to 1,711,000 from 1,707,000 in the previous week, an increase of 4,000. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.1% in the week ended October 10. The increases in continuing claims and their average thus coincided with an unchanged unemployment rate among those covered by insurance.
Economists attributed companies' retention of workers partly to strong profit growth and resilient domestic demand, according to Reuters. The news agency cited "strong profit growth amid solid domestic demand" as one factor supporting this behavior. The Associated Press, for its part, reported that most companies had enough confidence in the economy and their sales to retain their employees. But this retention of workers is accompanied by a slow pace of hiring, according to the agency. The Associated Press described the divergence by saying: "At the same time, hiring has remained slow."
Against the backdrop of this divergence, U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The overall unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in the same month. The bureau described the changes in both nonfarm employment and the unemployment rate as small during September. The Federal Reserve said in its meeting statement that month that "productivity growth is strong, and capital investment is solid." The central bank added that job gains had kept pace with labor force growth, as part of its assessment of economic and labor market conditions.
On monetary policy, the Federal Reserve raised its target interest rate range by a quarter of a percentage point in September. The decision brought the range to between 3.75% and 4%, according to the central bank's statement. The Fed holds its next meeting on October 27 and 28, 2026. The meeting will be followed by the next jobless claims release on Thursday, October 29, 2026, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis release calendar. The October jobs report will then be released on Friday, November 6, 2026, according to the date announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.