Washington: The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits increased by 44,000 last week, reaching a total of 236,000, according to the US Labor Department data released Thursday. This figure surpassed the anticipated 220,000 claims and marked a rise from the previous week's revised count of 192,000, which was the lowest since September 2022.

According to Anadolu Agency, the four-week moving average climbed to 216,750, showing an increase of 2,000 from the prior week's unrevised 214,750. Meanwhile, the number of ongoing unemployment benefit claims decreased to 1.83 million during the same period, down from 1.93 million the week before.

Additionally, the US economy saw the addition of 119,000 jobs in September, significantly exceeding the forecasted 53,000. Despite job gains, the unemployment rate in September rose to 4.4%, up from 4.3% in August, exceeding expectations.