Data leaked by the U.S. Department of Labor due to a "technical glitch": Number of Americans continuing to claim unemployment benefits surges.

Data released by the U.S. government on Tuesday showed a sharp increase in the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits between mid-September and mid-October, suggesting that the unemployment rate may have been high in October as an uncertain economic environment dampens businesses' willingness to hire. A Labor Department spokesperson stated that "a technical issue caused some data to be released prematurely," adding that "this issue is currently being corrected, and the complete data series will be released before the close of business on November 20, 2025." The data showed that the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits after the first week's claims (a proxy indicator for hiring) increased by 10,000 to 1.957 million in the seasonally adjusted range for the week ending October 18. The number of continuing claims jumped significantly from 1.916 million in the week ending September 13. (Jinshi)