Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to a two-month high last week at a time around the end-of-year holidays when data is volatile.

Initial claims increased by 17,000 to 242,000 in the week ended Dec. 7. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 220,000 applications. A metric that helps smooth out volatility, the four-week moving average, rose as well, and unadjusted data suggest the gains were spread across states.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, increased to 1.89 million in the previous week — which included the Thanksgiving holiday — according to Labor Department data released Thursday.

“The jump in initial jobless claims probably reflects some seasonal volatility related to the timing of Thanksgiving rather than a fundamental deterioration,” Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note.

Recurring applications have been hovering around a three-year high for almost two months now, suggesting that it is taking longer for out-of-work people to find a job. The November jobs report released last week also showed an increase to 4.2% in the number of workers who are unemployed for three months or more and in the overall jobless rate.

On an unadjusted level, initial claims also rose to the highest level since January. California saw the largest increase by far, followed by Texas and New York.

Only four states saw small declines, suggesting the jump in new applications was widespread across the country.