Initial claims rose 9,000 to 209,000, and the four week average that exists to absorb a week like that did not move at all

The weekly number rose and the average it feeds did not.

Seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance came to 209,000 in the week ending August 8, an advance figure, up 9,000 on a previous week revised from 199,000 to 200,000. The four week moving average was 199,000, unchanged from a previous average itself revised up by 250, from 198,750 to 199,000.

The raw count did more. Actual first claims under state programmes totalled 186,909, a rise of 14,437 on the week, or 8.4 percent. The seasonal factors had expected a rise of 6,410, or 3.7 percent. In the comparable week of 2025 the figure was 199,390.

Continuing claims went the other way. The advance seasonally adjusted count of insured unemployment for the week ending August 1 was 1,777,000, down 22,000 on a level revised from 1,801,000 to 1,799,000, and the insured unemployment rate held at 1.2 percent. Unadjusted, the level fell 23,826 where the factors had expected a fall of 1,799.

The state lines are a week behind

State detail in this release covers the week before the national headline. For the week ending August 1, the largest increases in initial claims were in New Jersey, up 690, and Pennsylvania, up 688, followed by Connecticut, South Carolina and Iowa. The largest decreases were in California, down 973, and Illinois, down 761, followed by North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia.

Total continued weeks claimed across all programmes, for the week ending July 25, came to 1,860,413, against 2,032,078 in the comparable week of 2025. No state was triggered on to the Extended Benefits programme in that week. Former federal civilian employees filed 401 first claims in the week ending August 1, and newly discharged veterans filed 408.