Unemployment Rose In 44 Of The 50 States In July
July’s jobs reports showed a net increase of more than 160,000 jobs in July, but on the state level things were far more tenuous:
Unemployment worsened in most states last month.
While the July unemployment figure rose a tenth of a point from June to 8.3 percent, the government says 44 states saw their jobless rates increase.
These include Nevada, which continues to have the highest jobless rate in the nation, at 12 percent. But when compared to a year ago, the same number of states, 44, have lower unemployment, and even Nevada is in this group.
One year ago, the jobless rate in Nevada was 13.8 percent.
The state with the most job growth continues to be California, with more than 25,000 jobs added between June and July. Over the last year, the nation’s largest state, hit hard by the housing collapse, has had a net gain of a thousand jobs a day.
Still, California has the third highest unemployment rate in the country, at 10.7 percent.
“I’m looking for anything,” said a woman named Pam at the Verdugo Jobs Center in Glendale, CA. “At my age, no one wants to hire me.”
She says she has done secretarial work and worked in merchadising. Now she’s hoping to become a house cleaner.
“It’s a shame,” said Albert Roperson, a former loan officer. “I have a part time job, but it doesn’t pay the bills. You dig what I’m saying?”
A dozen states considered “swing states” saw their rates inch up from June to July.
Along with Nevada, other states with large monthly jumps include Wisconsin, home of GOP Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan (7.3 percent), Michigan (9 percent), Pennsylvania (7.9 percent), and New Hampshire (5.3 percent). Still, most swing states enjoy a rate lower than the national average.
None of this bodes well for the jobs figures going forward, of course, and the fact that several swing states appear to see their job markets softening could be an important factor in the upcoming election.
And yet the stock market and corporate profits continue to rise. Wow… it’s almost as if giving _more_ money to people who already have _lots_ of money doesn’t actually help the economy.
I want the stock market to continue to rise.
What little money my kids have to pay for their college educations are tied into the stock market. What little we have put aside for retirement is tied up in the stock market.
Just what we can expect from Doug. Half the news all the time.
coincident economic indicators rise
So unemployment improved last month, but we can be clever and make that sound like a negative. And Doug wonders why no one takes him seriously when he talks about the economy…
these posts would be a lot more useful if you linked to the bls summary instead of yahoo..
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
Yes, and the price of oil jumped jumped $20 bbl of oil in 50 states in a month in large part because our “ally” Bibi is sword rattling again.
@legion: Corporations profit from deficits too.
Summary for Week Ending August 17th from Calculated Risk
Somehow I could bet that “a little more upbeat” wouldn’t make it to OTB though.
Some ideas to help the economy:
Free up business: less taxes, regulations
small businesses are very worried about the “Affordable” Health Care act and how it will affect them. Some have already said that they will be forced to raise prices.
Get the middle class a break: cheaper gas and food prices, then people will have more money to purchase.
@Dexter:
If we weren’t at the end of a 10 or 20 year cycle of tax cuts, which did not produce nonstop growth, I might believe that.
Did you hear that:
Companies Paid More to CEOs Than in U.S. Tax
That isn’t to say that they shouldn’t pay their CEOs lots of money … but that the federal tax burden probably isn’t that high, if it is less than one guy’s pay.