The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week and more people continued to collect unemployment checks at the end of November relative to the beginning of the year as demand for labor cools.

Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 15,000 to 1.89 million for the week of Nov. 30. The four-week average of weekly claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by nearly 6,000 to 224,250.

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.