The number of new applications by Americans for claiming unemployment benefits rose by 31,000 to 313,000 last week.
The US Labor Department report, which was released on Thursday, showed that the figure was the highest reported in six weeks.
Last week’s report has also surprised analysts, who had made estimates of nearly 290,000 new claims for jobless benefits.
The rolling four-week average of new unemployment claims, which is a more reliable indicator of the underlying trends of labor market, jumped by 11,500 to 294,500 last week.
The four-week average has been recorded below or a minimal above 300,000 since last September, indicating towards recovering labor market of the country.
The number of Americans receiving the unemployment benefits declined by 21,000 in the week that ended February 14 to 2.4 million.
The US economy added over one million new jobs during the three months period between November and January, the best three-month result since 1997.
The joblessness in America peaked at 10 percent in the month of December in 2009 before commencing a slow drop and stood at 5.7 percent in January.
The American economy logged a net addition of 2.95 million employments last year, which is the largest annual increase since 1999, when there was an addition of 3.2 million jobs.
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