First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits showed a significant increase in the week ended December 5th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims jumped to 853,000, an increase of 137,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 716,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 725,000 from the 712,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 873,000 in the week ended September 19th.
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