The 22,000-claim drop from the prior week was the largest single-week decline in months, pushing the 4-week average down to 207,500
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The Labor Department reported Thursday that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 187,000 for the week ending July 18, a decrease of 22,000 from the prior week's revised level of 209,000. The figure marks the lowest weekly reading of 2026.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to 207,500, a decrease of 7,250 from the prior week's revised average of 214,750, according to the Labor Department.
On an unadjusted basis, actual initial claims totaled 192,296 for the week ending July 18, a drop of 53,718 from the previous week. The comparable week in 2025 saw 216,023 unadjusted claims, according to the Labor Department.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held at 1.2% for the week ending July 11, unchanged from the prior week. The number of people collecting regular state unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis stood at 1,796,000 for that week, a decrease of 2,000 from the prior week's revised level.
A year earlier, insured unemployment stood at 1,941,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, well above the current level.
For the week ending July 11, the states with the largest increases in unadjusted initial claims were New York, which cited layoffs in transportation and warehousing, healthcare and social assistance, and educational services; Michigan, which attributed the rise to manufacturing layoffs; Florida, which pointed to layoffs in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail trade; Texas; and South Carolina. The largest decreases that week came in New Jersey, Missouri, California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
New Jersey and Puerto Rico reported the highest insured unemployment rates among states and territories for the week ending July 4, each at 2.6%, followed by Rhode Island at 2.3%, Massachusetts and Minnesota at 2.2%, and Oregon at 2.1%.
Initial claims filed by former federal civilian employees totaled 470 for the week ending July 11, an increase of 46 from the prior week. Claims filed by newly discharged veterans totaled 384, a decrease of 36 from the preceding week.
The total number of continued weeks claimed across all programs for the week ending July 4 was 1,864,638, an increase of 64,843 from the prior week. The comparable figure a year earlier was 2,039,439.
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