The data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday the number of
applications for unemployment unexpectedly rose last week.
According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased
by 23,000 to 230,000 for the week ended January 8. This was the highest weekly
total since mid-November 2021.
Economists had expected 200,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were left unrevised at 207,000.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of jobless claims increased to 210,750
from an unrevised 204,550 in the
previous week.
As for continuing claims, they declined to 1,559,000
from a downwardly revised 1,753,000 (from 1,754,000) in the previous week.