The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment rose much more than forecast last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 137,000 to 853,000 for the week ended December 5. This was the highest total since the week ended September 20.

Economists had expected 725,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 716,000 from the initial estimate of 712,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims grew to 776,500 from an upwardly revised 740,500 in the previous week.

Continuing claims rose to 5,757,000 million from an upwardly revised 5,527,000 in the previous week.