U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Declined in the Week of May 16

Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 3,000 to 209,000 in the week ending May 16, from 212,000 in the week ending May 9, revised from 211,000. The four-week average declined by 1,500 to 202,500 in the week ending May 16, from 204,000 the May 9 week, revised marginally from 203,750. The Action Economics/Haver Analytics Survey looked for 210,000 claims to have been filed.

The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—rose by 6,000 to 1.782 million in the week ending May 9, from 1.776 million in the week ending May 2, revised from 1.782 million. The four-week moving average declined to 1.773 million in the latest week from 1.780 in the May 2 week, revised from 1.781 million. The four-week moving average reached the lowest level since January 2024. The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.2% in the week of May 9. Except for a one-week dip to 1.1% in the week of April 25, the insured unemployment rate has been at 1.2% since the week of November 29, 2025.

The insured unemployment rate varied greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ending May 2, the highest unemployment rates were in New Jersey (2.17%) and Washington (2.11%). The lowest rates were in Florida and South Dakota (both 0.30%), Louisiana (0.32%), Alabama (0.35%), Arkansas (0.37%), North Carolina (0.38%), Tennessee (0.47%) and Iowa, Kansas, Virginia and Virgin Islands (all 0.48%). Rates in other notable states include California (1.97%), New York (1.61%), Illinois (1.51%), Pennsylvania (1.26%), and Texas (1.01%). These state data are not seasonally adjusted.

Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor itself, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They begin in 1967 and are contained in Haver’s WEEKLY database and summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW back to December 1986.