The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment statistics on Thursday. It showed that about 286,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on January 15th. That's the largest number of filers since the middle of last October.
Here is the official Labor Department statement:
In the week ending January 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 286,000, an increase of 55,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 230,000 to 231,000. The 4-week moving average was 231,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 210,750 to 211,000.
