* CNBC…

First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 840,000 last week, higher than expected in another sign that the spike in job growth over the summer has cooled heading into Election Day.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 825,000 new claims.

Though the total was a bit worse than Wall Street expected, it still represented a modest decline from the upwardly revised 849,000 from a week earlier. It also was the lowest level of claims since the virus-induced shutdown in mid-March. […]

Claims have been above 800,000 every week since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, leading to the shutdown of the U.S. economy.

* CBS 2…

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 36,036 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Sept. 28 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]

There were 29,390 new unemployment claims were filed across the state last week, the week of Sept. 21.

IDES reported 27,384 new unemployment claims across the state during the week of Sept. 7.

That’s a 22.6 percent increase in a week.