The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly rose last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 23,000 to 885,000 for the week ended December 12. This was the highest total since the week ended September 6.

Economists had expected 800,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 862,000 from the initial estimate of 853,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims grew to 812,500 from an upwardly revised 778,250 in the previous week.

Continuing claims dropped to 5,508,000 million from an upwardly revised 5,781,000 in the previous week.