Unemployment in Nevada, Florida Increases to Record (Update2)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

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by Judith Stein and Biodun Iginla, Financial Analysts for BBC and the Economist

Oct. 21 -- Unemployment rose in 23 U.S. states in September and hit records in Nevada, Rhode Island and Florida.
Nevada’s jobless rate, at 13.3 percent, was the second- highest among U.S. states behind Michigan, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Unemployment in Rhode Island reached 13 percent, and Florida’s rate climbed to 11 percent, the highest since data began in 1976.
Mounting unemployment is hurting state budgets by cutting tax revenue and boosting benefits to fired workers. Joblessness nationally will reach 10 percent this quarter, a Bloomberg News survey of economists showed this month, indicating consumers will probably not lead a recovery from the recession.
“There is still scant evidence of hiring,” said Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “We expect the unemployment rate in most areas to continue rising despite fewer job cuts,” she said.
The number of states with at least 10 percent unemployment held at 14 last month. The jobless rate nationally reached a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department reported earlier this month.
Unemployment in the District of Columbia also exceeded 10 percent for a fifth consecutive month, rising to 11.4 percent from 11.1 percent.
Michigan Unemployment
Michigan continued to lead the nation in joblessness, with a rate of 15.3 percent in September, up from 15.2 percent.
The depressed labor market in the state reflects Michigan’s dependence on the auto industry, said Timothy Bartik, a senior economist with the W.E. Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a non-profit labor-research group.
“Any state that specializes in a particular industry, when that industry tanks, it’s very hard to offset in any five- or 10-year period.”
New York City’s unemployment rate reached a 25-year high of 10.3 percent in September, the state’s Labor Department reported last week. The rate was 10.2 percent in August and 6 percent in September 2008. The state’s jobless level held at 8.9 percent.
New Jersey, Connecticut
New Jersey’s rate rose to 9.8 percent, the highest level since 1977, from 9.6 percent, the state’s Labor Department said Oct. 14. Joblessness in Connecticut climbed to 8.4 percent, also the highest in 32 years, from 8.1 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
“The economy right now is very bad,” said Ireita Kante, 52, of Atlanta, who lost her restaurant management job this month. “I do have confidence we will turn around. We have to. We are a strong country.”
Georgia’s unemployment rate held at 10.1 percent.
Payrolls fell last month in 43 states and the District of Columbia, today’s report showed. New York showed the biggest drop with an 81,700 decrease. The decline reflected a 63,400 drop in government payrolls, which the state said was caused by the expiration of the summer youth employment program.
Texas followed with a 44,700 drop in payrolls and California was next with a 39,300 decrease.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc., the world’s second- largest maker of personal computers, is among companies still paring staff to cut expenses. Dell said this month it will shutter a North Carolina factory with 905 employees by January. The job cuts are part of the company’s objective of saving $4 billion a year in costs as demand for computers declines.
Cutting Costs
“We set out a pretty big cost goal for ourselves,” Michael Dell, chief executive officer of the Round Rock, Texas- based company, said Oct. 14, a week after announcing the closure of the PC factory. “It’s looking like the $4 billion is quite achievable.”
Over the last year, California showed the biggest loss of jobs, with payrolls falling by 732,700 workers, more than twice Florida’s 360,400 decrease that was the second-biggest.
Payrolls in the world’s largest economy fell by 263,000 last month, more than forecast, the Labor Department reported earlier this month. The U.S. economy has lost 7.2 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007, the most of any downturn since the Great Depression. Posted by BiodunIginla at 5:22 AM Labels: bbc biodun iginla, global recession, judith stein, unemployment, us economic downturn 0 comments:

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