Unemployment soars in U.S. metropolitan areas

[OhioChick]

(Reuters) - Unemployment rates in 363 U.S. metropolitan areas rose in January, and 346 areas reported year-on-year declines in their number of jobs, the Labor Department said on Friday.

Nearly 200 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10 percent in January, showing that unemployment problems persist at the local level.

California has been especially hard hit during the recession that began in late 2007, and the Labor Department data showed the state's jobs situation continues to deteriorate, with an overall unemployment rate of 12.5 percent in January.

The three areas with the highest jobless rates in the country, all above 20 percent, were all located in California, the most populous U.S. state.

The Riverside and San Bernardino area of Southern California, along with Detroit-Warren-Livonia in Michigan had the highest unemployment rates for areas with populations of 1 million or more. While Detroit has been hurt by fluctuations in the automobile industry, Southern California has suffered mostly from the bursting of the housing bubble.

The sprawling California metropolis by the ocean formed by Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana, meanwhile, lost the most jobs over the year, at 248,600.

Rockford, Illinois, had the largest increase in unemployment from a year earlier, of 5.8 percentage points, primarily due to manufacturing job losses, said the Labor Department.

Economists have said that recovery from the recession will happen at different rates in different areas. Two areas in Indiana -- Kokomo and Elkhart-Goshen -- saw their unemployment rates drop the most, both around 4 percentage points, after their rates had increased more than 10 percentage points the previous year.

The largest increase in the number of jobs was in Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Washington, which gained 3,300 jobs, followed by Ocean City, New Jersey, with 1,900 jobs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62I3B220100319

[Hamlette]

1. the subject line of this thread is a tad out of date

the unemployment numbers are improving, perhaps not everywhere but nationwide.

At long, freaking last! (I work in my state's unemployment insurance office. It's been a brutal year for Americans.)

[Better Today]

3. Huh, I've not seen that at all. I'm not in the unemployment offices,

but around here on any job site including the state's, a year ago there were 15-16 legitimate jobs every week in my field. Granted there were 150-160 applicants for each one, but nonetheless there would be 15-16 each week. Now there are about 2 each week. Health related jobs are about even to last year except that now they are only looking of minimum wage employees for caregivers and CNAs and not as many upper level, higher paying jobs, otherwise we have lots of ads for contract salesmen.

Nope, I don't see this as outdated data at all.

[Hamlette]

10. So, statistics do lie?

We are seeing what is evident in the graph. Our workload is still higher than 2008 but is dropping off some from 2009.

But hey, what you see must mean we are on drugs and our numbers are still soaring even though we are getting fewer claims per month and the average length of time ppl spend on unemployment is going down.

whatever.

[Better Today]

12. Fewer newly unemployed doesn't mean more jobs. I think you're

misreading the graph you're posting.

That said, yes, statistics very often lie. Any basic statistics course shows you how easily stats are to manipulate.

[Hamlette]

13. move the goal posts much?

the op says "unemployment soars" and of course, fewer people are losing jobs now that a year ago, so I said the op was misleading and you try to defend it first by saying you know ppl who can't find jobs then by saying fewer newly unemployed doesn't mean more jobs.

Doesn't it mean fewer people are LOSING their jobs? And doesn't that mean that unemployment is not soaring?

How do you propose to stop the "soaring" unemployment and why do you think that term is legitimate in this discussion. Or is this a discussion or are you just moving the goal posts to show how unhappy you are with Obama?

(and yes dear, I understand the old saying that statistics lie which is why I made fun of it in my last subject line. Of course, I understand how you can miss what I'm saying because you either don't want to hear it or don't want to enter into an adult discussion. Fine. But why don't you warn people first by adding to your post: "I don't care what you say because I'm not listening because my mind is made up and it is more important for me to believe my ideology than for me to be correct." Then I wouldn't waste my time.)

[LeftyMom]

6. Sorry, not buying it.

[OhioChick]

9. Haven't been to OH, MI or CA lately, have you? n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

2. K&R for the unemployed. n/t

[madrchsod]

4. rockford is just up the road from me...

19.5 official but a lot more than that. highest since 85 and no hope of any increase in the next few years.

rockford used to be the fastern capital of the usa and now......

[Greyhound]

5. Nothing to see here, move along... n/t

[Arctic Dave]

7. They can always join the military, they have truckloads of money.

As for everyone else, too bad you non-uniformed losers.

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

8. The government has completely dropped the ball on job growth.

Instead of focusing on ways to encourage small business investment and grow the fundamentals of the economy, they have been jabbering about new ways to damage the already hurting business environment. Their priorities are completely out of whack.

From the perspective of a business, jobs are an investment. The shenanigans in Washington D.C. have been creating so much uncertainty that the risk is too high for the investment to be worth it.

[amborin]

11. 19% in Merced, California