The share of workers collecting unemployment benefits has fallen back to its 2019 level, even as claims remain historically low.
Initial claims rose 9K to a seasonally adjusted 200K in the week ending Nov. 7, the Labor Department said Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up by 2K to 191K, and the reading topped expectations. In the comparable week of 2025, initial claims were 228K.
The four-week average, which reduces weekly volatility, stayed at 195.25K. Unadjusted, states reported 206,982 initial claims, up 16.2% from the previous week. Seasonal factors had anticipated an 11.0% gain, so the bigger raw increase lifted the adjusted figure.
Initial Claims Rose To 200K In The Week Ending Nov 7
Seasonally adjusted US initial jobless claims (thousands), week ending Nov. 7, 2026
Bar chart. Thousands. Oct 31, 2026: Initial Jobless Claims (Thousands) 191. Nov 7, 2026: Initial Jobless Claims (Thousands) 200. 4-Week Moving Avg: Initial Jobless Claims (Thousands) 195.25.
Source: US Labor Department: US Labor Department, Morningstar: Morningstar, FiscalHour: FiscalHour, Anadolu Agency: Anadolu Agency
California led the unadjusted increases at 5,047, followed by New Jersey at 3,564, Missouri at 3,029 and Minnesota at 2,831. Michigan recorded the biggest drop, 2,996. Those advance counts are a rough guide, the department says: they reflect where benefits are paid, not where claimants live.
Why the rolls are thin
Continuing claims, which count people still collecting benefits, fell 20K to 1.697M in the week ending Oct. 31. That compares with 1.946M a year earlier, and the insured unemployment rate held at 1.1%.
The four-week average for continuing claims was 1.708M, 1.5K less than the prior week's average. State programs logged an average of 1.47M continued claims a week in the four weeks to Oct. 31, equal to 0.96% of covered employment, the same as October 2018 and 2019 and the lowest for any October since 2022.
The catch is that benefits expire. Most states cap them at 26 weeks. Long-term joblessness explains much of the gap: in October, 27.8% of the unemployed, or 1.96M people, had been out of work for at least 27 weeks, versus 22.0% in October 2019. In October, the count of continued claims equaled roughly 21 for every 100 unemployed people, compared with 24 in October 2019.
The layoff picture stays quiet
Initial claims track layoffs, and layoffs have stayed low through a stretch in which weekly claims have ranged from 189K to 212K since mid-July. The prior week's claims report showed 189K before the revision.
The strain is concentrated. New Jersey posted the country's highest insured unemployment rate for the week ending Oct. 24, 2.0%, ahead of Washington at 1.9% and Massachusetts at 1.8%.
The year-ago base is distorted by last autumn's federal funding lapse, which shut much of the government. Former federal civilian employees filed 7,483 initial claims in the week ending Nov. 1, 2025; the same week this year, they filed 585.
Last year's shutdown flatters the annual comparison: continued claims were lower than a year earlier in 51 of the 53 states and territories. Hawaii is the exception, averaging 7,012 weekly claimants in the four weeks to Oct. 31, 23% above a year earlier.
The next weekly report lands Nov. 19.
