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

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 181,000 to 965,000 for the week ended January 9. This was the highest total since mid August.

Economists had expected 790,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised downwardly to 784,000 from the initial estimate of 787,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims rose to 834,250 from a downwardly revised 816,000 in the previous week.

Continuing claims jumped to 5,271,000 from an unrevised 5,072,000 in the previous week.