US jobless claims fall to 194,000, near 1960s low

Initial claims for US unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 in the week ended October 17, below the 200,000 economists had forecast and close to the 189,000 touched in July, the lowest level since the late 1960s.

Why it matters: The claims week covered the survey period for October payrolls, and a reading this low, with continuing claims still at 1.728 million, keeps the labour market in its low-hire, low-fire state a week before the Federal Reserve meets, with markets expecting no move in October and a quarter point hike in December.

Data as of US Department of Labor weekly claims report for the week ended October 17, 2026, released Thursday October 22; the department's own release could not be fetched directly in this run, so the figures are as reported in full by Reuters and CNBC, both read in full, and corroborated by Bloomberg's headline figure of 194,000. Developing item.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 in the week ended October 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday, below the 200,000 that economists polled by Reuters had forecast. The four week moving average was 197,750, against an average of 212,000 over the past year, and the level sits close to the 189,000 recorded in the week of July 18, the lowest since the late 1960s. Continuing claims, the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, rose 25,000 to 1.728 million in the week ended October 10.

The report covered the period in which the government surveyed businesses for the nonfarm payrolls component of the October employment report. Payrolls rose 29,000 in September and have averaged 69,000 a month in 2026, with unemployment at 4.2 percent, a pattern economists describe as low-hire, low-fire: hiring is weak, but employers are holding on to workers, and layoffs fell in August with the layoff rate at 1 percent of the workforce over the prior 12 months.

US jobless claims fall to 194,000, near 1960s low

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