Initial Jobless Claims 4-Week Average: Release Dates, Results & History
Initial Jobless Claims 4-Week Average last printed 206K on Thu, Aug 27, 2026 against a 204K prior. The next release is Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET. Captured live by Helious the moment it printed.
One noisy week of claims can be holiday timing, auto-plant retooling, or a hurricane; the 4-week average is the trend line that filters all of that out. It is the number layoff watchers actually quote when arguing the labor market is cracking, and a sustained push to new highs carries recession-signal weight no single week can. Fed speakers cite the smoothed series for exactly that reason.
The trend, at a glance
How it moves Treasuries
A rising 4-week average is bullish Treasuries because it confirms the layoff trend single prints only hint at. It rarely moves markets alone; it decides how much the weekly surprise gets believed. See it scored live on the Helious desk, or read how the standard-deviation surprise is computed.
Recent prints, as captured by the desk
| DATE | ACTUAL | FORECAST | PRIOR | SURPRISE (SD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 206K | — | 204K | — | ABOVE PRIOR | |
| 204K | — | 199K | — | ABOVE PRIOR | |
| 199K | — | 199K | 0.00 | ON THE SCREWS | |
| 199K | — | 203K | -0.50 | BELOW FORECAST | |
| 203K | — | 208K | -0.36 | BELOW FORECAST | |
| 208K | — | 214K | -0.43 | BELOW FORECAST |
The 6 most recent prints from the desk's live capture (began July 2026), a sample. Every row links the print page published the moment the number landed; the full graded history is served by the API.
Official series history
| PERIOD | VALUE (CLAIMS) | PRIOR | CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 206K | 204K | +1K | |
| 204K | 200K | +4K | |
| 200K | 199K | +1K | |
| 199K | 203K | -4K | |
| 203K | 208K | -5K | |
| 208K | 215K | -7K | |
| 215K | 219K | -4K | |
| 219K | 222K | -3K |
The most recent official rows; the chart above draws the longer series. Desk-captured prints above include the consensus forecast and standard-deviation surprise the moment each number landed.
Weekly, every Thursday, in the initial claims report · 8:30 AM ET · download a sample (CSV, recent rows), free to cite with a link to this page. The full history comes through the Helious API and MCP at api.helious.io/mcp, with depth set by plan.