US Initial Jobless Claims by Year: 1967–2026
Initial jobless claims count the people who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in a given week. Because the report is published every Thursday with a one-week lag, it is the fastest official signal of whether layoffs are rising — nothing else in the US statistical system turns around that quickly.
The weekly average was 208 thousand in 2026 and the latest week shows 194 thousand. Across the full record the annual average has ranged from 196 thousand in 1969 to 1358 thousand in 2020. That makes 2026 the 3rd-lowest annual average since 1967, behind only 1968 and 1969.
US initial jobless claims by year, weekly average in thousands, 1967–2026
| Year | Annual average | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (YTD) | 208k | −18 pp |
| 2025 | 226k | +3 pp |
| 2024 | 223k | +0 pp |
| 2023 | 223k | +9 pp |
| 2022 | 214k | −250 pp |
| 2021 | 464k | −894 pp |
| 2020 | 1358k | +1140 pp |
| 2019 | 218k | −2 pp |
| 2018 | 219k | −25 pp |
| 2017 | 244k | −18 pp |
| 2016 | 262k | −16 pp |
| 2015 | 278k | −30 pp |
| 2014 | 308k | −35 pp |
| 2013 | 343k | −31 pp |
| 2012 | 375k | −34 pp |
| 2011 | 409k | −50 pp |
| 2010 | 459k | −115 pp |
| 2009 | 574k | +156 pp |
| 2008 | 418k | +97 pp |
| 2007 | 321k | +8 pp |
| 2006 | 312k | −19 pp |
| 2005 | 331k | −11 pp |
| 2004 | 342k | −60 pp |
| 2003 | 402k | −1 pp |
| 2002 | 404k | −2 pp |
| 2001 | 406k | +106 pp |
| 2000 | 299k | +2 pp |
| 1999 | 298k | −20 pp |
| 1998 | 317k | −5 pp |
| 1997 | 322k | −30 pp |
| 1996 | 352k | −7 pp |
| 1995 | 359k | +19 pp |
| 1994 | 340k | −4 pp |
| 1993 | 344k | −66 pp |
| 1992 | 409k | −38 pp |
| 1991 | 447k | +62 pp |
| 1990 | 385k | +55 pp |
| 1989 | 330k | +21 pp |
| 1988 | 309k | −16 pp |
| 1987 | 325k | −53 pp |
| 1986 | 378k | −14 pp |
| 1985 | 392k | +18 pp |
| 1984 | 374k | −67 pp |
| 1983 | 441k | −145 pp |
| 1982 | 586k | +135 pp |
| 1981 | 451k | −37 pp |
| 1980 | 488k | +105 pp |
| 1979 | 383k | +42 pp |
| 1978 | 341k | −33 pp |
| 1977 | 374k | −10 pp |
| 1976 | 383k | −90 pp |
| 1975 | 474k | +122 pp |
| 1974 | 352k | +108 pp |
| 1973 | 244k | −19 pp |
| 1972 | 263k | −33 pp |
| 1971 | 296k | −1 pp |
| 1970 | 297k | +100 pp |
| 1969 | 196k | −1 pp |
| 1968 | 197k | −30 pp |
| 1967 | 227k | — |
What the record shows
The level has trended down for structural reasons. Claims averaged above 300,000 for most of the 1970s and 1980s, when the labour force was growing faster and manufacturing employment was more cyclical. The 2015–2019 period set the modern floor, near 220,000, because a tighter labour market meant fewer separations rather than fewer filings per separation.
The four-week average is the signal, the weekly print is noise. Single weeks are distorted by holidays, storms and strikes. A move of 10,000 in one week is routine; a sustained 15,000 rise in the four-week average over a month is the threshold that historically precedes a turn in the unemployment rate.
Continuing claims tell the harder story. Initial claims measure separations, continuing claims measure re-employment. When the first is stable and the second rises, hiring has slowed even though firing has not — the pattern that has defined the current labour market, where the unemployment rate has drifted up to 4.3% without a spike in layoffs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the current level of US jobless claims?
The latest weekly reading is 194 thousand initial claims, against a 2026 average of 208 thousand.
When are jobless claims released?
Every Thursday at 8:30am Eastern time, covering the week that ended the previous Saturday.
What level of claims signals a recession?
There is no fixed threshold, but a four-week average sustained above 300,000 has accompanied every post-war recession. The 2026 average is well below that.
Source and method
All figures on this page are computed at build time from the Initial Claims series (FRED identifier ICSA) published by the US Department of Labor and distributed by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Annual figures are averages of the underlying observations; growth and inflation rates are year-over-year changes of those annual averages. Where a year is incomplete the figure is labelled YTD.
Data retrieved 2026-10-31. Raw series: FRED — Initial Claims. Chart and table code licensed CC BY 4.0 — reuse freely with attribution to CapitalWire.
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APA
CapitalWire. (2026). US Initial Jobless Claims by Year: 1967–2026. Retrieved 2026-10-31, from https://infornkn.com/data/us-initial-jobless-claims/BibTeX
@misc{capitalwireus_initial_jobless_claims,
title = {US Initial Jobless Claims by Year: 1967–2026},
author = {{CapitalWire}},
year = {2026},
note = {Data: US Department of Labor via FRED, series ICSA},
url = {https://infornkn.com/data/us-initial-jobless-claims/}
}HTML link
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