US initial jobless claims rise by 16,000

ANKARA

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims rose 16,000 to 351,000 last week, according to the Labor Department on Thursday.

Analysts expected 320,000 claims for the week ending Sept. 18. The previous week's figure was revised up 3,000 from 332,000 to 335,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August from 5.4% in July, according to figures.

The world's largest economy added 235,000 jobs in August and still has 8.4 million unemployed workers as of last month.

More than 22 million people in the US lost their jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.