The four-week moving average of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 2.3 percent in the week ended April 23, while total initial jobless claims rose by 6.2 percent.

In its weekly report released today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the four-week moving average of jobless claims rose to 408,500 in the week ended April 23, up 9,250 from the previous week’s revised number.

The four-week average smoothes the volatility of the weekly number of total reported claims. Total initial claims for the week ended April 23 rose by 25,000 to 429,000 from the previous week’s revised number.