Initial unemployment claims seen higher than forecasts

The number of Americans applying for initial unemployment benefits were recorded at a larger number than what was initially forecasted last week, sending off the signal that a recovery in the labor market may be prolonged amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Economists had forecasted a decline of 846,000 last week. However, numbers were revised up to 884,000 from an initially reported 881,000.

Due to changes made earlier in September on how seasonal adjustments are calculated, recent figures are only comparable to the previous week.

The number of unemployment claims, which are reported with a one-week lag to initial claims, have increased to 13.385 million people. The previous week’s figure was also revised downwards to 13.292 million.