Labor · Friday, October 9, 2026
New jobless claims dip to 197,000
The File desk · Oct 9, 2026, 10:42 AM UTC
Status
Confirmed. The Labor Department's weekly unemployment-insurance report, released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Oct. 8, 2026. This is a weekly series. It is not one of the charted series on the Economy calendar.
Fewer people filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week. The Labor Department said 197,000 people filed in the week ending Oct. 3, after adjusting for the season, down 2,000 from the week before. The four-week average, which smooths out bumps, fell to 198,000. A year earlier the weekly figure was 233,000. The number of people still collecting benefits rose by 17,000, to 1.716 million, in the week ending Sept. 26.
The department's report says: “In the week ending October 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 197,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level.” The prior week was revised up to 199,000 from 197,000. The insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent, unchanged. Claims before seasonal adjustment were 170,333.
No monthly jobs, inflation, or growth report landed with this number. The next Consumer Price Index is still Oct. 14.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims
U.S. Department of Labor · October 8, 2026
In the week ending October 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 197,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level.
https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf