Applications for unemployment benefits in the United States fell to their lowest level in more than five decades last week, even as rising oil prices and global economic uncertainty continue to rattle markets.
According to a Thursday report from the Labor Department, the number of Americans filing for jobless aid during the week ending July 18 dropped by 22,000 to just 187,000. That marks the smallest weekly total since the week ending September 6, 1969. The figure also came in far below the 215,000 applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had predicted.
Weekly unemployment filings are widely viewed as a reliable, near-real-time measure of layoffs and overall job market health in the country.
Even with oil prices climbing sharply following the U.S. military attack on Iran, American workers have largely held onto their jobs. That said, economists caution that a drawn-out conflict and persistently high energy costs could eventually pressure companies into cutting staff to control expenses.
Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Trading, offered this take: “The economic crisis caused by the energy supply shock is not over yet. But the labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices.”
Oil prices reflected that pressure Thursday, with U.S. crude jumping nearly 5% early in the day to top $91 per barrel — the highest price in roughly six weeks. The national average for a gallon of gasoline has also climbed back above $4, squeezing both household budgets and businesses that depend heavily on fuel.
The government’s June jobs report, released earlier this month, painted a more cautious picture of hiring. Employers added only 57,000 jobs that month, less than half the previous month’s total, suggesting companies are being careful about expanding their payrolls. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though much of that improvement reflects people who stopped looking for work and were no longer counted among the unemployed.
June’s modest job gains followed a stronger stretch of hiring over the prior three months, which had helped ease fears that the conflict in Iran might further destabilize an already fragile labor market.
Weekly jobless claims have generally held in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 since the economy recovered from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing roughly two years ago and slowed further in 2025, influenced by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, reductions in the federal workforce, and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates used to fight inflation.
A number of major companies have reduced their headcounts in recent months, including Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks, and Walmart. Microsoft also announced earlier this month that it is eliminating 4,800 positions — about 2.1% of its global workforce — with a significant portion of those cuts coming from its Xbox video game division.
The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, which smooths out week-to-week swings, fell by 7,250 to 207,500. The total number of Americans actively collecting unemployment benefits for the week ending July 11 dipped by 2,000 to just under 1.8 million, also considered a historically strong figure.
