The data from the Labor Department revealed on Wednesday the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly increased last week, as the U.S. labor market is struggling to recover from its biggest shock in history, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 30,000 to 778,000 for the week ended November 21. This marked the second straight rise in weekly initial claims since the week ended October 11.

Economists had expected 730,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 748,000 from the initial estimate of 742,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims rose to 748,500 from an upwardly revised 743,500 in the previous week.

Continuing claims declined to 6,071,000 million from a downwardly revised 6,370,000 in the previous week.