Among four states, the economy lost over 75,000 jobs last month compared to June. The BLS reported that “Over-the-month statistically significant declines in employment occurred in Illinois (-24,900), Florida (-22,100), Minnesota (-19,800), and Indiana (-10,100)”. Florida already has one of the highest unemployment rates in the US at 10.7%.
Michigan was the only one of the states with very high unemployment to see an improvement in July.” The four states reporting the largest over-the-month statistically significant job gains were New York (+29,400), Texas (+29,300), Michigan (+23,000), and Tennessee (+14,300),” the BLS wrote in its month report on state jobs.
The new figures show that a few areas continue to hurt the total jobless rates for the US. If these states had unemployment rates near the national average, the US figure would drop by nearly a percentage point. “Nevada continued to register the highest unemployment rate among the states, 12.9 percent in July. California recorded the next highest rate, 12.0 percent,” the BLS reports. Michigan’s rate is 10.9%. Florida’s is 10.7% Georgia’s is 10.1% and South Carolina’s 10.9%. Among them, these states have nearly 83 million residents–over a quarter of the total US population.
Unemployment remains much more a regional problem than a national one.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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