(fxcue news) - First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended December 7th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 242,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level of 225,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 220,000 from the 224,000 originally reported for the previous week. Jobless claims increased for the second consecutive week, continuing to regain ground after hitting their lowest level in over six months. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also rose to 224,250, an increase of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average of 218,500. Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 15,000 to 1.886 million in the week ended November 30th. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose by 3,500 to 1.888 million, reaching the highest level since hitting 1.928 million the week ended November 27, 2021. "Continued claims remain elevated in states that have suffered recent layoffs or were most impacted by the early fall hurricanes," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics. She added, "The elevated level of continued claims is consistent with other data showing that unemployed workers are finding in more difficult to find new jobs." Last Friday, the Labor Department released its more closely watched monthly jobs report, showing employment surged by more than expected in November. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 227,000 jobs in November after rising by an upwardly revised 36,000 jobs in October. Economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the uptick of 12,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in November from 4.1 percent in October. The modest increase matched economist estimates.