The number of weekly jobless claims recorded a surprise increase last week, even crossing the 700,000 claims mark, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.
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Between March 21 and 27, 719,000 requests were recorded, an increase of 61,000 compared to the previous week, the number of which was revised down (658,000).
This is much more than the 679,000 registrations expected by analysts.