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Unemployment Climbs in 27 U.S. States, Falls in Seven
(Bloomberg) -- Unemployment increased in 27 U.S. states in February and dropped in seven, a sign the labor market needs to pick up across more regions to spur consumer spending and sustain the economic recovery.Mississippi showed the biggest jump in joblessness with a 0.4 percentage point rise to 11.4 percent, according to figures issued today by the Labor Department in Washington. Nationally, unemployment held at 9.7 percent in February for a second month and employers cut fewer jobs than anticipated, figures from the Labor Department showed on March 5. Today's report indicates broad-based hiring is yet to develop following the loss of 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Florida, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina set record levels of joblessness last month. "Until we see improvement in employment in a fair number of U.S. states, it's not going to do a heck of a lot for the recovery," said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. "The worst seems to be over, but there's a huge amount of work to be done to create jobs. It's going to be a long, winding road." Payrolls dropped in 27 states, led by Virginia. The state's loss of 32,600 jobs last month, the largest in records going back to 1983, was also the biggest decline among states. California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Texas also reported large decreases in employment, the report said. Michigan's jobless rate, while remaining the highest in the nation, fell for a second month. Unemployment there decreased to 14.1 percent from 14.3 percent in January. Detroit Decline Unemployment in the Detroit area, home to General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., fell to 14.8 percent from 15.3 percent. GM last month said it may bring back laid-off workers to fill jobs created by its $1.4 billion retooling of 18 U.S. factories. A separate report today showed confidence among consumers was higher than anticipated in March as companies slowed the pace of job cuts and stock prices advanced. Florida and Nevada each reported a 0.2 percentage point gain in their unemployment rate, with Florida reaching 12.2 percent and Nevada rising to 13.2 percent. Georgia's jobless rate climbed to 10.5 percent from 10.4 percent, and North Carolina's rose to 11.2 percent from 11.1 percent. Nation's Lowest North Dakota continued to report the lowest jobless rate in the nation, down to 4.1 percent in February from 4.2 percent a month earlier. Unemployment held at 12.5 percent in California and at 8.8 percent in New York. State and local employment data are derived independently from the national statistics, which are typically released on the first Friday of every month. The state figures are subject to larger sampling errors because they come from smaller surveys, making the national figures more reliable, according to the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today's report showed 17 states in February had a jobless rate exceeding the 9.7 percent national average. Fifteen states had unemployment of 10 percent or higher, the same as January. President Barack Obama last week signed an $18 billion jobs bill into law that provides a tax break to companies hiring unemployed workers, saying additional steps are needed. Posted by: Fred 2010-03-27 |
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