The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment exceeded economists’ forecast last week, as the U.S. labor market struggles to recover from its biggest shock in history, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 840,000 for the week ended October 3.

Economists had expected 820,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 849,000 from the initial estimate of 837,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims dropped to 857,000 from an upwardly revised 870,250 in the previous week.

Continuing claims declined to 10,976,000 million from an upwardly revised 11,979,000 in the previous week.