Jobless Claims Rose for Second Week in a Row

"Today's claims level is much higher than expected, and there were no special factors behind the rise, according to the Labor Department. There is no obvious single explanation for the rise in claims this week, but a number of quirks in the labor market are likely contributing to the overall increase," Simons wrote.

These include elevated claims related to educational workers in New York and New Jersey and elevated claims in the Gulf States, "presumably caused by disruptions in the local economy caused by the oil spill," he said. Also, he added, there might be some sort of takeback in the seasonal adjustment factors from the cancellation of factory shutdowns that caused claims to fall to their lowest levels of the year in early July.

In a later e-mail, Simons noted that the July 22 extension of funding for extended jobless benefits "might be causing some confused people to file for unemployment insurance all over again," which may be why there have been more initial claims.

Read a story about the Labor Department's monthly jobs report for July from the archives of InvestmentAdvisor.com.