US Initial Unemployment Claims Sink

2025-09-18 12:38 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

Initial jobless claims in the US sank by 33,000 from the previous week to 231,000 on the second week of September, firmly below the market consensus of 240,000.

The count declined sharply from the October-2021 high of 264,000 from the previous week, mostly on a surge in claims across multiple industries in Texas, with reports emerging of incorrectly-filed and fraudulent claims having inflated the number and distorted the data.

In the meantime, outstanding claims fell by 7,000 to 1,920,000 in the first week of September, less than expectations of 1,950,000, and the least since late May.

The results pushed back against recent concerns of an uncontrolled deterioration in the labor market following pessimistic jobs reports, which drove the Fed to restart its cutting cycle despite high inflation.

In the meantime, initial unemployment claims filed by Federal government workers, which have been under scrutiny due to the White House's efforts to reduce government employees, rose by 45 to 572.



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