Washington: The number of Americans filing first-time jobless claims increased by 14,000 last week, reaching a total of 217,000, as per the data released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

According to Anadolu Agency, the latest figure surpassed the market forecast of 210,000 and also exceeded the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 203,000, which was initially reported as 201,000. The 4-week moving average of jobless claims showed a decrease, standing at 212,750, down by 750 from the previous week's revised average of 213,500.

In a related development, the US economy added 256,000 jobs in December. This followed a downward revision of the November jobs data, which was adjusted to 212,000 from an earlier estimate.