A new partner in joblessness
Eight states now have now received the dubious honor of having unemployment rates higher than 10 percent. The newest addition to the family is Indiana. The state hit 10 percent in March, up from 9.4 percent in February.
Oregon’s unemployment rate saw the biggest jump, going up 1.4 percent to 12.1 percent, the second-highest unemployment in the United States. Michigan still leads the nation in unemployment with 12.6 percent. Bloomberg.com reports this is the worst employment slump in the post-war era. Luckily for unemployed homeowners, mortgage loan modification can help them keep their homes.
More big jumps
Unemployment in Washington state jumped almost a full percentage point in March to 9.2 percent. West Virginia also saw a 0.9 percent jump in unemployment, putting it at 6.2 percent.
Though West Virginia’s rate took a big jump, its overall unemployment rate is still well below the national average, which went up to 8.5 percent from 8.2 percent. That’s the highest it’s been in 25 years.
More double-digit states
Along with Indiana, Michigan and Oregon, the following states have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent:
- South Carolina, 11.4
- California, 11.2
- North Carolina, 10.8
- Rhode Island, 10.5
- Nevada, 10.4
Forty-six states registered an increase in unemployment in March. Three states held steady, and the District of Columbia and North Dakota posted a drops, according to the labor department. Payroll employment dropped in March in 48 states and D.C.
Highest job loss
Among United States residents, the most Californians lost jobs with 62,100 workers dropped off the payroll. In Florida, 51,900 people lost their jobs. Texas, North Carolina, Illinois and Ohio rounded out the six states with the highest job loss.
Northwest’s rough patch
Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, spoke on why Oregon and Washington saw such big jumps in unemployment:
The Northwest “is getting the double whammy from the slumps in trade and aerospace. We may be seeing the impact from the collapse in trade along the whole west coast.”
Oregon has also been hit by a factory slump. Indiana’s sharp drop in employment is partially because of a collapse in RV production.
Tough competition
With more workers entering the job market every day, competition is becoming more and more difficult for people seeking jobs. From Bloomberg.com:
“Employers who are out there have become very specific in what they are looking for. It is challenging for all those who have been in financial services as a career as that business has been decimated,” said Craig Hewitt of Atlanta, who lost a management job in October with HSBC Holdings Plc’s auto-finance unit after six years.
The newspaper industry has also been hit particularly hard. Decreased ad sales, increased competition in classified ads because of sites like Craigslist and declining sales have left many longtime journalists unemployed. Robert Taylor lost his job after working for newspapers for 33 years.
“I’ve never been unemployed for so long in my life,” said Taylor. “When I was laid off I thought I’d certainly have another job by year-end. Now I doubt I’ll ever work for a newspaper again.”
According to most of the economists, we are in the process of hitting bottom. It’s little comfort to anyone at this point, but if that prediction is correct, by Fall we’ll see the beginnings of rebound, which has already been postulated to have begun. Let us hope that too many more jobs won’t be lost in the meantime.