The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by a higher-than-expected 21,000 last week as the scale of hurricane-related applications increased, government data showed on Thursday.
Initial claims for state unemployment aid rose to 390,000 from an upwardly revised 369,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. Wall Street had forecast 370,000 new claims. The prior week’s claims were initially reported at 356,000.
