New applications for unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 199,000 in the week ending October 10, the Labor Department reported October 15. That was 1,000 above the previous week’s revised figure of 198,000.

The four-week average, which smooths some weekly variation, increased by 250 to 198,500. The prior week’s average was revised upward by 250, illustrating why a single preliminary release should not be treated as a final count.

Continuing insured unemployment uses an earlier reporting week. For the week ending October 3, the seasonally adjusted total fell by 4,000 to 1.710 million. The insured unemployment rate remained 1.1%.

Unadjusted initial claims totaled 190,626 in the latest week. Seasonal adjustment and raw counts answer different questions, so those figures should not be mixed to calculate a weekly trend.

Claims measure applications under unemployment-insurance programs rather than all unemployed people. They do not establish a city’s jobless rate, identify the cause of every layoff or replace the separate monthly employment survey.