The drop brings the four‑week moving average of claims down to 203,250, a modest decline from the previous week’s average and well below the 207,500 figure economists had forecast in a FactSet poll.
Jobless claims are widely used as a proxy for layoffs, and the latest numbers keep the weekly total inside the historically low band of 200,000 to 230,000 that has persisted for the past year.
The labor market’s strength persists despite higher gasoline prices that have pressured both businesses and consumers since the conflict with Iran began on Feb. 28.
Employers continue to remember the severe labor shortages that followed the end of pandemic lockdowns, making them reluctant to shed staff even as they add new hires at a modest pace.
So far in 2024, employers—including private firms, government agencies and nonprofits—have been creating an average of 80,000 jobs per month, with a notable surge of 162,000 jobs added in August alone.
Those figures represent an improvement over 2025, when monthly job creation averaged just 9,700 amid high interest rates and shifting trade policies, but they remain well below the 166,000 average recorded in 2023‑2024 and far short of the 491,000‑a‑month hiring boom that followed the COVID‑19 lockdowns in 2021‑2022.
Analysts view the continued low level of unemployment claims as evidence that the U.S. economy is still absorbing workers, even as external pressures such as fuel costs and geopolitical tensions linger.