In the week ending April 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 189,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 214,000 to 215,000. The 4-week moving average was 207,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 210,750 to 211,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending April 18, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured ... (full story)

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits tumbled below 200,000 last week despite a number of economic headwinds including the war in Iran. U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 by to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The four-week moving average of jobless claims, ... (full story)