Seasonally adjusted initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits for the week ended Sept. 28 rose more than expected to 219,000, from the prior week's upwardly revised figure of 215,000, data from the U.S.Labor Department showed.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was 216,000.
The four-week moving average stood at 212,500, unchanged from the upwardly revised four-week moving average recorded in the previous week.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate, which measures the proportion of the labor force receiving unemployment benefits, was unchanged at 1.1% for the week ended Sept. 21. Insured unemployment numbers decreased to 1,651,000 from the prior week's upwardly revised 1,656,000.
