Jobless claims hold at 197,000, near multi-decade lows
Claims for the week ending October 3 matched the prior week's level and came in below forecasts, keeping the four-week average near recent lows.
Published
Chart: US initial jobless claims
Initial jobless claims totaled 197,000 for the week ending October 3, below the 200,000 forecast and unchanged from the prior week's level, according to the official release.
The four-week moving average stood at 200,000 for the week ending September 26, down 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 202,500, according to Trading Economics. That average had fallen as low as 202,750 in the week ending July 25, a level Advisor Perspectives called the lowest since January 2024.
The reading keeps claims near multi-decade lows even as the administration's fraud task force steps up scrutiny of visa-based labor programs. That scrutiny has raised questions about whether companies that depend on visa labor could eventually face a tighter hiring pool, but so far the claims data show no sign of that pressure showing up in layoffs.