Initial Claims for the Week Ended May 23
Updated: 28-May-26 10:50 ET





Highlights

• Initial jobless claims for the week ending May 23 increased by 5,000 to 215,000 (Briefing.com consensus 214,000) from last week's revised reading of 210,000 (from 209,000).
• Continuing jobless claims for the week ending May 16 rose to 1.786 million from a revised 1.771 million (from 1.782 million) in the prior week.

Key Factors

• The four-week moving average for initial claims increased by 6,250 to 209,000.
• The four-week moving average for continuing claims increased by 2,500 to 1,772,750.
• The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending May 9 was 1,697,017, a decrease of 22,143 from the previous week. Claims filed in the comparable week a year ago totaled 1,808,299.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that even with this increase in initial and continuing claims, the overall level of jobless claims remains relatively low.

Category	May 23	May 16	May 9	May 2	Apr 25
Initial Claims	215K	210K	212K	199K	190K
4-Wk Moving Avg	209K	203K	204K	203K	208K
Continued Benefits		1786K	1771K	1776K	1758K
4-Wk Moving Avg		1773K	1770K	1780K	1788K