Unemployment is not a national problem. It is a local one. The national rate of joblessness would drop sharply if employment improved even modestly in California, North Carolina, Nevada and Rhode Island, where the rates are still in double digits. The claim seems extraordinary until the populations of the states are added and reach 50 million, about a sixth of the U.S. total.
There is a consensus that joblessness has improved over the past few months, even in the regions hardest hit by the recession. But when 12.7% of the people in Nevada are unemployed, as was the case in January, and probably close to another 10% are underemployed, the state is closer to a depression than a robust recovery.
Nothing special has been done for Nevada and the other three states on the list of those with the highest unemployment. Nothing will be. The federal government treats unemployment largely as a national problem, the way it does poverty and education. But not all geographic regions are equal, which means that countrywide programs will leave behind certain states, and the residents of their most troubled cities and counties.
It may be that the federal government is not adroit enough to help create jobs by state. Or it may be that one senator who asks for more aid for his or her state will encounter dozens of senators who want the same for theirs. No matter what the reason, the recovery is particularly uneven in the U.S., and that puts a drag on the economy overall.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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