WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After reporting first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits at their lowest level in nearly 50 years in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a significant rebound in initial jobless claims in the week ended January 26th.
The report said initial jobless claims surged up to 253,000, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week's revised level of 200,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 215,000 from the 199,999 originally reported for the previous week.
With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 254,000 in September of 2017.
The slightly upwardly revised reading on jobless claims in the previous week was still the lowest since a matching figure in October of 1973.
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