At 207,500, the four-week moving average — a measure designed to reduce week-to-week volatility — was 3,500 below the previous week’s revised figure.
For the week ending April 18, the number of people collecting ongoing unemployment benefits reached its lowest point in two years, dropping by 23,000 to 1.785 million, according to Bloomberg. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%.
On an unadjusted basis, initial claims totaled 179,765, a decline of 26,668, or 12.9%, from the preceding week. The comparable figure a year earlier was 224,021.
Among individual states, New York posted the steepest reduction in unadjusted filings, shedding close to 11,000 applications, with California and Connecticut also seeing notable pullbacks, according to Bloomberg.
The historically low filing numbers have persisted even though a string of prominent employers — among them Meta Platforms, Nike, Morgan Stanley, and Amazon — have publicly announced workforce reductions, according to Bloomberg and The Associated Press. Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a labor market displaying “more and more signs of stability” after the Federal Reserve opted Wednesday to hold its benchmark rate steady, according to Bloomberg.
Since the economy recovered from the pandemic-era downturn, new unemployment filings had generally held within a band of roughly 200,000 to 250,000 per week, according to the AP. Economists have described conditions in the job market as “low-hire, low-fire,” a dynamic that holds layoffs in check and suppresses the unemployment rate but leaves people who have lost jobs with few openings to pursue, according to the AP.
moreesq on
To what degree might the declining unemployment claims be a function of our demographics. Boomers are aging out and not filing and there are not as many younger people in the pipeline who might file. Perhaps this is a silly question, but other than people just dropping out entirely from the job market, what else accounts for these declines?
escapehatch on
I don’t see any reason why this isn’t explained by people being stuck unemployed longer than in the past, given that this is only initial claims. Like with a lot of stats, it’s easy to think it means something it doesn’t. While not conclusive on its own, it’s consistent with the idea that firing has leveled off but hiring is largely frozen.
Own-Chemist2228 on
Misleading headline: “U.S. jobless claims hit lowest level since 1969” means that for this one week, there hasn’t been a number of initial unemployment claims this low since a week that occurred in 1969.
It does not mean that overall unemployment is low or that there are abundant employment opportunities. It just means that there was a very low number of filings *this week*.
gohblu on
For better or worse, immigration into the US, both legal and illegal, has shrunk dramatically since Trump returned to office. Our economy just doesn’t need to create nearly as many jobs as it once did in order to maintain full employment.
brianishere2 on
The Trump administration’s numbers are rigged. Again. Layoffs are growing. The same way they told us inflation is 3% when we are all plainly observing 10+%.
NicePlanetWeHad on
This is more evidence of what has been reported for a while now as the “No-Hire, No-Fire” trend, in which companies are essentially in a holding pattern.
Job growth overall has been essentially zero for the past year.
rubensinclair on
Isn’t this phony information because Trump decimated the department that puts these numbers together? How can we possibly trust any of these numbers?
gerblnutz on
The government changing jobless criteria has been ongoing since at least 2008. With record layoffs and a spiraling economy, I call bullshit.
9 Comments
The Labor Department said Thursday that [U.S. initial unemployment claims](https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) totaled 189,000 for the week ending April 25, down 26,000 from a revised prior-week figure of 215,000. That is the lowest reading in more than 50 years, according to [The Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/unemployment-benefits-jobless-claims-layoffs-labor-0b3696c38edd9a0eafc5fa7d438c9108), citing research firm High Frequency Economics, which said the figure was the fewest new applications since September 1969.
Analysts had projected 212,000 applications for the week, according to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-30/us-jobless-claims-plunge-to-189-000-lowest-since-1969).
At 207,500, the four-week moving average — a measure designed to reduce week-to-week volatility — was 3,500 below the previous week’s revised figure.
For the week ending April 18, the number of people collecting ongoing unemployment benefits reached its lowest point in two years, dropping by 23,000 to 1.785 million, according to Bloomberg. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%.
On an unadjusted basis, initial claims totaled 179,765, a decline of 26,668, or 12.9%, from the preceding week. The comparable figure a year earlier was 224,021.
Among individual states, New York posted the steepest reduction in unadjusted filings, shedding close to 11,000 applications, with California and Connecticut also seeing notable pullbacks, according to Bloomberg.
The historically low filing numbers have persisted even though a string of prominent employers — among them Meta Platforms, Nike, Morgan Stanley, and Amazon — have publicly announced workforce reductions, according to Bloomberg and The Associated Press. Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to a labor market displaying “more and more signs of stability” after the Federal Reserve opted Wednesday to hold its benchmark rate steady, according to Bloomberg.
Since the economy recovered from the pandemic-era downturn, new unemployment filings had generally held within a band of roughly 200,000 to 250,000 per week, according to the AP. Economists have described conditions in the job market as “low-hire, low-fire,” a dynamic that holds layoffs in check and suppresses the unemployment rate but leaves people who have lost jobs with few openings to pursue, according to the AP.
To what degree might the declining unemployment claims be a function of our demographics. Boomers are aging out and not filing and there are not as many younger people in the pipeline who might file. Perhaps this is a silly question, but other than people just dropping out entirely from the job market, what else accounts for these declines?
I don’t see any reason why this isn’t explained by people being stuck unemployed longer than in the past, given that this is only initial claims. Like with a lot of stats, it’s easy to think it means something it doesn’t. While not conclusive on its own, it’s consistent with the idea that firing has leveled off but hiring is largely frozen.
Misleading headline: “U.S. jobless claims hit lowest level since 1969” means that for this one week, there hasn’t been a number of initial unemployment claims this low since a week that occurred in 1969.
It does not mean that overall unemployment is low or that there are abundant employment opportunities. It just means that there was a very low number of filings *this week*.
For better or worse, immigration into the US, both legal and illegal, has shrunk dramatically since Trump returned to office. Our economy just doesn’t need to create nearly as many jobs as it once did in order to maintain full employment.
The Trump administration’s numbers are rigged. Again. Layoffs are growing. The same way they told us inflation is 3% when we are all plainly observing 10+%.
This is more evidence of what has been reported for a while now as the “No-Hire, No-Fire” trend, in which companies are essentially in a holding pattern.
Job growth overall has been essentially zero for the past year.
Isn’t this phony information because Trump decimated the department that puts these numbers together? How can we possibly trust any of these numbers?
The government changing jobless criteria has been ongoing since at least 2008. With record layoffs and a spiraling economy, I call bullshit.