New York — The number of Americans filing a new claim for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly back above the 1-million mark last week, a setback for a struggling US job market crippled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.106-million for the week ended August 15, from an upwardly revised 971,000 in the prior week, the labour department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 925,000 applications in the latest week...

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