FX.co ★ US Jobless Claims 4-Week Average Distorted by Shutdown

The four-week moving average of U.S. jobless claims decreased to an unusually low figure of 58,000 for the week ending October 18, 2025. This figure has been skewed due to a data blackout caused by the nation’s longest government shutdown. Claims data was not gathered for the weeks ending September 27, October 4, and October 11. Therefore, the current average is calculated by considering one reported value of 232,000 initial claims for this latest period and zero for the weeks when data collection was not possible. For context, the most recent fully reported data from the week ending September 20 showed the four-week average at 237,750.