Money Matters, Simplified.
Unemployment rate drops to 9.7% in January
by Jaspreet Virk - March 11, 2010 - comments
Among the various states that had high jobless rate, Michigan topped the list with unemployment rate of 14.3 percent.
In a convincing sign that the nation’s economy is rebounding, the national unemployment rate has fallen to 9.7 percent in January from 10.0 percent in December, according to a report released by Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Though the national jobless rate has declined, the unemployment rate has increased in 30 states, thus signifying that economy recovery has not translated into jobs for all the states in the nation. Only nine states witnessed a drop in jobless rate.
In January, the highest unemployment rate was in the West, nearly 10.8 percent. Northeast reported the lowest rate at 9.1 percent.
State-wise analysis
Among the various states that had high jobless rate, Michigan topped the list with unemployment rate of 14.3 percent. But this was less than 14.5 percent in December.
Michigan was followed by Neveda, which reported a jobless rate of 13 percent in January.
The next state with the highest jobless rate was Rhode Island, 12.7 percent, followed by South Carolina, 12.6 percent.
California topped the list of states that witnessed significant employment changes from December last year to January this year, with 32,500 new jobs.
Other states with significantly high joblessness were California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina with unemployment rate of 12.5 percent, 12 percent, 11.9 percent, 11.3 percent, and 11.1 percent respectively.
California topped the list of states that witnessed significant employment changes from December last year to January this year, with 32,500 new jobs.
But job gains were not enough to counter rising unemployment rate as jobless rate rose in the state from 12.3 percent in December. The county-by-county figures released by the state showed that in eight counties, one in every five people were without a job.
Thirty one states added jobs in January, up from 11 in December, but the move failed to curb high jobless rate.
High unemployment rate to continue
Though various sectors in the economy are on a recovery mode, the effects of the recession could almost last a year.
“The unemployment rate will be persistently at this high level for at least a few more months," said, Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University.
Economy recovery has not translated into jobs for all the states in the nation.
Steven Cochrane, director of regional economics at Moody's Economy.com, added that there is no doubt that the economy is rebounding but this recovery is concentrated.
"It still portends weakness in income-tax revenue and sales-tax revenue into fiscal year 2011," he said.