Odaily Planet Daily News: Goldman Sachs' analysis of state unemployment benefit application data shows that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week. The analysis is based on data released by states during the federal government shutdown. In a report to clients, Goldman Sachs economists including Jan Hatzius pointed out that the number of initial unemployment benefit applications is expected to rise to about 224,000 in the week ending September 27, higher than the 218,000 reported by the government in the previous period. The bank used seasonal factors pre-announced by the Department of Labor to adjust the existing raw data for each state. Due to the government shutdown, the Department of Labor did not release a weekly report on Thursday, but provided downloadable data for most states. The September employment report, originally scheduled to be released early Friday, was also postponed. (Jinshi)