The number of people who file for unemployment benefits in a given week. This data is collected by the Department of Labor, and published as a weekly report. The number of jobless claims is used as a measure of the health of the job market, as a series of increases indicates that there are fewer people being hired.

Related information about jobless claims:

1. Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims - ETA Press Release ...
   Nov 21, 2012 ... The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 397,671 in the week ending November 17, a decrease of ...
    
2. Jobless claims - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Initial Jobless Claims is a report issued by the U.S. Department of Labor on a weekly basis. The employment situation is extremely important for a ...
    
3. Jobless Claims in U.S. Decrease as Sandy Effect Dissipates ...
   1 day ago ... Fewer Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week as the labor market disruptions wrought by superstorm ...
    
4. Jobless claims fall; Sandy distorts data - Economy Watch on ...
   WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign the labor market's slow recovery w...
    
5. Jobless claims take big jump in latest week - Economy Watch on ...
   The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits leapt to the highest level in four months in the latest week, erasing the large dro...
    
6. Jobless claims fall, suggesting modest hiring - Economy Watch on ...
   The always-volatile weekly jobless claims data dropped in the latest week, continuing a see-saw pattern that still suggests the economy is c...
    
7. Initial jobless claims dropped again last week after Sandy - latimes ...
   1 day ago ... WASHINGTON -- Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped again last week, to 393000, as the jobs market continued to recover from ...
    
8. Jobless claims filings fall as Sandy impact wanes - Nov. 29, 2012
   1 day ago ... Those seeking unemployment benefits drops below 400000 last week as impact of Hurricane Sandy starts to wane.