The numbers behind the time between jobs

The US labor market, every week.

Every week, we read the US labor market the moment the government releases the numbers — jobless claims, the unemployment rate, and where the jobs are — and translate it into plain English. Because behind every figure is someone navigating a real transition.

Initial jobless claims

197K

week ending Jul 25

+9K wk/wk

Continued claims

1.78M

week ending Jul 18

insured unemployment

Unemployment rate

4.2%

Jun 2026

-0.1 pt mo/mo

Data as of Jul 25, 2026 · Source: DOL/ETA & BLS via FRED · See the full trends, charts & jobs-by-industry →

Why we track this

Every number is a person.

Behind every data point is someone who just lost a job and has to file an unemployment claim — a confusing, error-prone process that works differently in every state. That's why we built NextAct.work: it prepares the correct state unemployment-claim forms, filled in and ready to review and submit. It's our first product — the beginning of what NextActs is for.

See what we're building at NextAct.work →