The Department of Labor is
reporting 428,000 initial claims for unemployment this week. This represents:
...an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 417,000. The 4-week moving average was 419,500, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised average of 415,500.
For recent context:
After steadily dropping through late spring and summer, applications have been ticking up again, signaling the fragility of the nation's economy and the inability of the labor market to churn out jobs.
[...]
Applications fell to 375,000 in February, stayed below 400,000 for two months, before hitting an eight-month high of 478,000 in April.
They had been dropping since April before the latest upward trend.
For broader context, 375,000 is considered to be the magic number below which applications need to fall to move the unemployment rate down. The economy added zero jobs in August, and September isn't looking too good, either.