The four-week moving average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims rose 2.7% to 540,500 in the week ended Dec. 6 from the previous week's revised average of 526,250, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today.

In addition, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims for the week ended Dec. 6 (not the four-week average) rose 11.3% to 573,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 515,000.

Initial claims represent those people filing for unemployment benefits.