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Initial Jobless Claims counts people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time in a given week. The weekly report offers a more frequent look at possible layoffs than the monthly employment figures.
One unusual week does not define a trend. Traders watch whether claims keep climbing and often use the four-week average to filter out noise. A persistent rise can weaken confidence in the labour market and affect rate expectations.
Usual effect: An actual figure below the forecast is generally good for the US dollar; a figure above the forecast is generally bad for it.
Release history
| Date | Actual | Forecast | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 194K | – | 195K | |
| 195K | – | – | |
| – | – | 198K | |
| 198K | – | 199K | |
| 199K | – | 198K | |
| 198K | – | 198K | |
| 198K | – | 207K | |
| 207K | – | 207K | |
| 207K | – | 204K | |
| 204K | – | 207K | |
| 207K | – | 212K | |
| 212K | – | 200K | |
| 200K | – | 198K |
Other high impact USD events
Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Eurostat, European Central Bank, Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis) (dl-de/by-2-0), Office for National Statistics (licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0), Bank of England, Bank of Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Reserve Bank of Australia (both CC BY 4.0), Statistics Bureau of Japan, Bank of Japan, Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss National Bank, Stats NZ (licensed by Stats NZ for re-use under the CC BY 4.0 licence), Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Canadian figures: Adapted from Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, Labour Force Survey, GDP by industry and Retail trade, monthly. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov. This product uses the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Data API but is not endorsed or certified by BEA. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. © 2026 Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Content from the New York Fed subject to the Terms of Use at newyorkfed.org. Philadelphia Fed figures: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey. This service uses API functions from e-Stat, however its contents are not guaranteed by government. Chinese figures: Quoted from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (www.stats.gov.cn).
