U.S. Jobless Claims Slide Yet Again
By Dean Seal
U.S. jobless claims decreased for the fifth week in a row as employers continue to keep their workforce levels static.
The number of people who filed for unemployment benefits was 197,000 in the week through Oct. 3, 2,000 lower than the revised 199,000 reported a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal were expecting to see the figure rise to 200,000.
Continuing claims, which scale with the total size of the unemployed population, totaled 1.72 million in the week through Sept. 26, rising by 17,000 from the downwardly revised total a week earlier. The data on continuing claims lag the initial-claims data by a week.
The report reinforces the notion that employment levels have been holding steady in a low-hire, low-fire environment. A stable labor market is putting more pressure on the Federal Reserve to tackle inflation by raising rates this year.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 08, 2026 08:58 ET (12:58 GMT)
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