New unemployment claims in the U.S. fell more than expected last week, despite a government shutdown in Minnesota that had the potential to spike the weekly claims figures.
According to figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor, new claims for unemployment came in at 418,000 for the week ending July 2, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 432,000.
And while the previous week's figures were revised up from the 428,000 initially reported, the 418,000 new claims came in below the 420,000 predicted by most economists.
The relatively modest decrease in new claims is unlikely to generate any confidence that the jobs market is turning around.
The four-week average of new unemployment claims, a figure that reduces some of the week-to-week volatility in the numbers, also dropped slightly, falling 3,000 to 424,750 from the previous week's revised average of 427,750.
Analysts say that new claims holding stubbornly above the 400,000 benchmark reflects that the economy is not growing fast enough to produce meaningful improvement in the jobs market.
Labor Department officials noted that seasonal factors had predicted a 5.7 percent increase in new claims, but the reported figures showed a 2.5 percent increase, resulting in the seasonally adjusted decline in new claims.
Furthermore, according to DOL officials, Minnesota reported that roughly 2,500 of their reported initial claims come as a result of the government shutdown from the state's failure to pass a budget.
In addition, four states, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and the District of Columbia failed to report data, forcing the DOL to estimate their initial claims. Virginia and California also only reported partial data, due to the Fourth of July holiday, DOL officials said.
The number of people on the unemployment rolls, a figure known as continuing claims, came in at 3.681 million for the week ending June 25, a decrease of 43,000 from the previous week's revised level of 3.724 million.
The number of continuing claims came in somewhat below the 3.7 million most economists had predicted, though the previous week's figures had been revised up somewhat from the 3.702 million initially reported.
The four-week average of continuing claims fell slightly, dropping 3,750 to 3.705 million from the previous week's revised figures of 3.709 million.
New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut reported the largest increases in new claims for the week ending June 25, while Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, North Carolina and Georgia reported significant declines in new claims for the same week.
On Friday, the DOL will release new monthly figures for job creation and the unemployment rate, considered more comprehensive data on the unemployment situation than the weekly unemployment claims figures.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.