Jobless claims fall to 189,000, matching the lowest since 1969, as layoffs stay rare

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 189,000 in the week ended October 31, the Labor Department said Thursday, according to Reuters. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 196,000. The prior week was revised up to 195,000 from 194,000, per DPA.

That matches the 189,000 reading from mid-July, which Reuters describes as the lowest since 1969. In plain terms: employers are almost not letting anyone go.

The number behind the number

Initial claims are only half of the report. Continuing claims, people still receiving benefits after the first week, rose 23,000 to 1.718 million in the week ended October 24, Reuters reported. That is still low, but it moved the wrong way on the day initial claims hit a low.

Reuters notes two caveats. Continuing claims leave out some jobless people, such as recent graduates with little work history, and benefits generally run out after 26 weeks. And some economists read the low claims as a product of a smaller labor force under the immigration crackdown rather than fewer job cuts. Reuters also reported that job openings per unemployed person edged up to 1.06 in September from 1.02 in August.

The picture is a labor market that is stuck rather than strong. Our September jobs report story covered payroll growth of just 29,000. Few layoffs plus little hiring means workers stay put and open jobs are hard to fill.

Why it matters tomorrow

The October jobs report is due Friday, Nov. 6, at 8:30 AM ET. Weekly claims are a noisy guide to monthly payrolls, so a low claims number does not tell us what Friday will show. It does point to the unemployment rate being driven by who is looking for work, not by firings, which is the same pattern we described after last month's claims report.

For rates, a labor market this firm gives the Fed no reason to lean on jobs weakness. Officials have focused more on inflation, and today's data does not change that. Watch the 10-year yield around 8:30 AM tomorrow.

Who it hits

Restaurants. We count 605,380 independent restaurants on file. With almost no layoffs, there are fewer experienced cooks and servers coming onto the market, so filling a holiday shift often means paying more or poaching.

Contractors. CheckThisBiz lists 141,913 independent construction and contracting firms. Skilled tradespeople are rarely laid off in a low-claims market, which keeps crew-building slow and wages sticky.

Owners hiring for the holidays. A pool of available workers that is not growing means starting pay offers carry more weight than job-board volume. That is our reading, not a figure from the report.

Sources: Reuters and DPA via Yahoo Finance, Nov. 5, 2026, reporting the Labor Department weekly claims release. We could not open the Labor Department page directly from our systems this morning, so figures are as reported by those outlets. This is economic information, not investment advice.