The Zhitong Finance App learned that the number of jobless claims in the US fell to its lowest level since July at the beginning of last week, and layoffs also declined in September. This shows that although employers are still cautious about increasing recruitment, the labor market remains stable. The US Department of Labor said on Thursday that for the week ending September 26, the number of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was reduced by 1,000 to 197,000, and economists expected 200,000.
In the week ending September 19, the number of renewed jobless claims (an alternative measure of recruitment) fell by 11,000 to 1.701 million seasonally adjusted, the lowest level since March 2023. Although this so-called number of renewals is at the lower end of this year's range, some unemployed people are experiencing long-term unemployment.
The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims for smooth fluctuations fell to 200,000, a seven-week low.
Despite the growing negative factors brought about by the war in Iran and driving up energy prices, the number of initial jobless claims in the US is still close to a 57-year low. Economists say strong corporate profit growth and resilient domestic demand shielded workers from layoffs.
Another report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global re-employment service, shows that US employers plan to cut jobs by 18% in September to 43,281. The number of layoffs announced was down 20% year over year. So far this year, employers have announced 573,195 layoffs, down 39% from the first nine months of 2025. The number of layoffs planned for the third quarter fell by 43%.
However, the employer is in no hurry to increase the number of employees. The recruitment plan increased by 90,787 people last month. Although this number is a sharp increase from 12,325 in August, recruitment intentions fell 23% year over year, and it was the lowest level in all of September since 2011.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas said there was no surge in seasonal recruitment, which usually starts in September.
“The company is currently in a wait-and-see period,” said Andy Charunger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Employers are facing multiple pressures such as high energy levels, uncertainty about the war in Iran, interest rate hikes that raise employment costs, and medical expenses may rise sharply.”
The Federal Reserve raised the overnight benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to the 3.75%-4.00% range last month, the first rate hike in three years, and suggests that borrowing costs will rise further in the next few months.
According to a survey released by the World Federation of Large Enterprises on Tuesday, the percentage of consumers who said jobs were “sufficient” fell to their lowest level since February 2021 in September, while the percentage that thought jobs were “difficult to obtain” was the highest level in more than five and a half years.
The initial unemployment claim data is not within the statistical window of the September Non-Farm Employment Report, so it will not affect the non-farm payroll data. According to a survey of economists, the number of non-farm payrolls is expected to increase by 90,000 last month, following an increase of 162,000 in August. The unemployment rate is expected to stabilize at 4.1% for the third consecutive month, but the risk is biased upward.