The Unemployment Dance: January State Jobs Data Mixed
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The U.S. Labor Department issued the latest numbers for state unemployment data yesterday, indicating that many states are still flat out exhausted on the national dance floor. While the numbers show improvement in some instances, the movement is not enough to budge the nation's overall unemployment rate of 9.7 percent.
Here is the break down from the Associated Press:
Two Stepping:
In January, unemployment rose in 30 states. This is down from the 43 states who showed increasing unemployment numbers in December 2009. But still worse than November 2009, when unemployment fell in most states.
Thirty-one states were able to create jobs. California reported the largest job gains in January, followed by Illinois, New York, Washington State and Minnesota.
Out of Breath:
Five states reported the highest percentages of joblessness in January; all are above the national percentage:
California -- 12.5 percent, South Carolina -- 12.6 percent, Florida -- 11.9 percent, North Carolina -- 11.1 percent, and Georgia -- 10.4 percent.
Those numbers are just for the month of January. There are states who continue to maintain the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Michigan's unemployment rate is still the highest in the United States, at 14.3 percent, followed by Nevada, with 13 percent and Rhode Island at 12.7 percent.
The Dancers:
Not all states are experiencing high joblessness numbers; some are well below the national averages. The state with the lowest jobless rate in the nation is North Dakota, at 4.2 percent. Its fellow Upper Plain states Nebraska and South Dakota follow behind at 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
(photo credit: Jenny Mealing; c.c. 2.0)
