A job seeker holds paperwork during the Mega JobNewsUSA South Florida Job Fair held in the Amerant Bank Arena on Sept. 25, 2026 in Sunrise, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Employers continue to hold onto workers even as hiring remains weak, sending weekly jobless claims to around their lowest levels in records that stretch back nearly six decades.

Initial filings for unemployment insurance slipped to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 for the week ended Oct. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

That marked another leg lower in the low-fire trend, with the total just off the 189,000 reported for the week of July 18 that was the lowest since September 1969. Claims have averaged 212,000 over the past year, and the four-week moving average is down to 197,750.

Those numbers come against an uncertain backdrop for the labor market.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 29,000 in September and have averaged a gain of just 69,000 a month in 2026.…