2021.01.1412:37:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Climb Much More Than Expected

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed by much more than expected in the week ended January 9th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 965,000, an increase of 181,000 from the previous week's revised level of 784,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 795,000 from the 787,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 1.011 million in the week ended August 22nd.