The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment was higher than expected last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 61,000 to 719,000 for the week ended March 27.

Economists had expected 680,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised downwardly to 658,000 from the initial estimate of 684,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of jobless claims declined to 719,000 from a downwardly revised 729,500 in the previous week.

Continuing claims dropped to 3,794,000 from a downwardly revised 3,840,000 in the previous week.