Employment Statistics and Meaning

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides monthly data about employment nationally, regionally and by state.

Here are four looks. Care to guess the geography to which these data belong?

Let's start with the last one first with a current unemployment rate of 7.6%.

• Unemployment rate is fairly steady but quite high
• Number of unemployed is growing
• Number of employed is diminishing
• Total work force is shrinking
  
  Hint
• Heavily reliant upon manufacturing along with tourism and farming
  
  You are correct if you said Michigan

The next one has a current unemployment rate of 6.1%

• Unemployment rate is growing and getting uncomfortably high
• The number of unemployed is growing rapidly
• The number of employed is relatively steady
• Total work force is growing at an annual rate of over 3%... lots of people moving in
  
  Hint
• Heavily reliant on agriculture and technology along with tourism and entertainment
  
  You are correct if you said California

The next one up has a current unemployment rate of 4.7%

• Unemployment rate is growing quickly, but not too high yet
• The number of unemployed is growing very fast
• The number of employed is steady to slightly declining
• Total work force is growing moderately
  
  Hint
• Heavily reliant on tourism and new retirees
  
  You are correct if you said Florida

The one at the top of the list has a current unemployment rate of 3.5%... well below the national average

• Unemployment rate is up for the last month measured, but less than half of the state with the highest rate
  
• The number of unemployed is low and up only slightly in the latest month
• The number of employed is growing
• Total work force is growing
  
  Hint
• Heavily reliant on the Federal Government and suppliers, lobbyists, and universities/think tanks working with the Federal Government
  
  You are correct if you said Virginia

What it tells me is that the only growth industry in the U.S. appears to be the Federal Government... and that is probably why the government in D.C. seems so out of touch with the rest of the U.S.

You can decide what this tells you.

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