Weekly jobless claims rise 9,000 to 200,000; continuing claims dip to 1.70 million

First-time applications for US unemployment benefits rose last week but stayed low by historical standards. In its weekly claims release, published at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, the Labor Department said the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 200,000 in the week ending 7 November, up 9,000 from the previous week. That previous week was revised up by 2,000, from 189,000 to 191,000.

The main figures

The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly swings, was 195,250, unchanged from the prior week's revised average. In the comparable week of 2025, seasonally adjusted initial claims were 228,000, according to the release's summary table.

Continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, moved the other way. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the week ending 31 October was 1,697,000, down 20,000 from a revised 1,717,000. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.1%.

Before seasonal adjustment, states reported 206,982 initial claims, an increase of 28,870, or 16.2%, from the week before. The department said its seasonal factors had expected a rise of 19,663, or 11.0%, which is why the adjusted figure moved higher.

Where claims rose

In the advance state data for the week ending 7 November, the largest unadjusted increases were in California (up 5,047), New Jersey (up 3,564), Missouri (up 3,029) and Minnesota (up 2,831). Michigan showed the largest decline, down 2,996. The department notes that advance state figures are not directly comparable with revised figures from earlier weeks, because they are reported by the state paying the benefits rather than by the claimant's state of residence.

Context

Since mid-July, the seasonally adjusted weekly figure has stayed between 189,000 and 212,000, according to the history table in the department's release and the St. Louis Fed's FRED initial claims series. The report arrives two days after the October consumer price index, which showed core inflation holding at 0.3% for a third month.

Analysis

A single weekly rise of this size is within normal volatility for an administrative series that the Labor Department itself describes as difficult to seasonally adjust. The falling continuing claims figure suggests people who lose jobs are still finding new work, though one week of data does not establish a trend.

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