{"id":1162,"date":"2026-09-17T21:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/17\/claims-for-unemployment-benefits-drop-to-196000-lowest-since-mid-july-as-layoffs-remain-low\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T21:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:01:52","slug":"claims-for-unemployment-benefits-drop-to-196000-lowest-since-mid-july-as-layoffs-remain-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/17\/claims-for-unemployment-benefits-drop-to-196000-lowest-since-mid-july-as-layoffs-remain-low\/","title":{"rendered":"Claims for unemployment benefits drop to 196,000, lowest since mid-July as layoffs remain low"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week, another sign that layoffs remain rare and most Americans enjoy job security.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims slid to 196,000, the fewest since mid-July and down from 206,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, dropped to 203,250.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Economists had expected claims to come in at 207,500, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->The American job market has remained sturdy despite higher gasoline prices that have squeezed businesses and consumers since the fighting with Iran began Feb. 28.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Layoffs are low. Businesses, remembering the labor shortages that followed the end of pandemic lockdowns, are reluctant to let go of staff. They&#8217;re hiring \u2014 but modestly by the standards of recent years.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->So far this year, employers \u2014 companies, government agencies and nonprofits \u2014 have been adding an average 80,000 jobs a month, including a surprising 162,000 in August. That is an improvement on a dismal 2025 when monthly job creation averaged 9,700 as high interest rates and President Donald Trump&#8217;s ever-changing trade policies discouraged hiring.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->But it remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, and the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns.<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"text text-block paragraph text-left neo-font-paragraph-xl-reg  yf-18d6y07\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->Paul Wiseman, The Associated Press<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/p>\n<figure data-testid=\"article-figure-image\" class=\"yf-750ceo\">\n<div class=\"image-container yf-1f8hkhu loader\">\n<div class=\"image-wrapper yf-1f8hkhu\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" alt=\"\" height=\"605\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-1f8hkhu loader\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"yf-750ceo\"><!-- HTML_TAG_START -->FILE &#8211; Portraits of Presidents Donald Trump and Theodore Roosevelt hang above the Department of Labor in Washington, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite, File) &#8211; The Associated Press<!-- HTML_TAG_END -->  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The number of people applying for une [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btbitcoin.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}