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In the week ending February 21, the total number of initial claims was 193,107, a 8% decrease from the previous week. Similarly, continued claims decreased by 2.3%, reaching 2,150,580 in the week of February 14. When analyzed weekly, the count of continued claims is a good measure of labor market conditions, as it tends to roughly coincide with peaks in the economic cycle.

Overall, both initial and continued unemployment claims fell for the third week in a row, remaining below their 2025 levels. On a year-over-year basis, initial claims were down by 7.1%, while continued claims were down by 0.8%.

Improvement also continued at the state level. Looking at initial claims, 39 states saw a decline between February 14 and February 21. Michigan recorded the largest decrease, with new claims falling by nearly 50%, followed by Utah (-39.2%) and Iowa (-38.6%). In contrast, Rhode Island experienced the largest increase in claims, rising by 132% from the prior week. It was followed by Maine (34.2%) and Oklahoma (31.0%).

Continued claims declined in thirty-three states in the week ending February 14, with Mississippi posting the largest decrease of nearly 30%. It was followed by notable decreases in Missouri (-12.0%) and Wisconsin (-9.3%). On the flip side, Kentucky (29.0%), Arizona (15.7%), and Illinois (4.5%) saw the largest increases in continued claims. In New York and New Jersey, the level of continued claims remained unchanged from the prior week. 

In the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area, the impact of federal employment cuts remains evident in the data. While initial claims declined in the two states and the District, continued claims rose in Maryland and Virginia. Altogether, continued claims remain higher than one year ago in the DMV.

To see how unemployment insurance claims have changed in your market, select your state below: