US jobless claims have declined for five straight weeks, highlighting a healing in the labor market in the world's largest economy
The jobless claims report comes one day before the release of the unemployment data for October GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / JOE RAEDLE

The number of workers applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. rose for the second week in a row and surpassed economists' expectations.

Initial claims for the week ended Oct. 21 increased to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 from a revised 212,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department said in a statement Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a total of 210,000 jobless claims.

The four-week moving average rose to 210,000 from 208,000, according to the report.

Other data released Wednesday showed that job creation by private companies accelerated this month, but still came in below estimates.

New jobs in October totaled 113,000, an increase from 89,000 in September, according to payroll processing company ADP. The number was well below the estimate of 150,000 in a Reuters' survey of economists.

The Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged Wednesday. In the statement that announced the decision, the U.S. central bank said that "job gains have moderated since earlier in the year but remain strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low."

The Fed also said that the current level of interest rates, in the range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest in 22 years, is likely to have an impact on economic activity, hiring, and inflation, adding that the "extent of these effects remains uncertain."

The Labor Department releases Friday the data for jobs and unemployment for the month of October, the most expected economic report of the week. In September, the number of new jobs jumped to 336,000, the highest in eight months, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%.