Jobless rate declines in 43 states
A “jobs” sign hanging above the entrance to the US Chamber of Commerce building in Washington, DC, on Dec. 13, 2011.
The unemployment rate declined in 43 states in November, the US Labor Department announced today.
Michigan had the biggest decrease in unemployment – it dropped a 0.8 percentage point to 9.8 percent – followed by Alabama, Minnesota, South Carolina and Utah, which each dropped by a 0.6 percentage point, Bloomberg News reported.
Michigan’s jobless rate, which is below 10 percent for the first time in three years, has been helped by increasing sales at auto manufacturers, Robert Kleine, an economic consultant who served as Michigan’s treasurer under Gov. Jennifer Granholm, told The Associated Press. "We have been making some progress," he said. But "even though it looks pretty good, it might be kind of misleading. … A lot of people have dropped out of the labor market."
Of the 43 states that posted unemployment rate declines, 13 weren’t statistically significant, meaning the rates in those states were essentially flat, the Wall Street Journal reported. The unemployment rates also remained the same in Hawaii, New Jersey, Indiana and Oklahoma and were basically flat in New York, Rhode Island and Wyoming, which reported statistically insignificant increases in their unemployment rates, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, another Labor Department survey showed that 29 states added jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported. New York increased payrolls the most, adding 29,500 jobs, followed by Texas, which added 20,800 jobs.
“We’re seeing a modest recovery in hiring across much of the country,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, N.C., told Bloomberg News before the report came out. “There are a few hot spots where activity is stronger.”
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Regions hard hit by the housing bust continue to face elevated unemployment. Nevada still far and away has the highest jobless rate at 13 percent, followed by California at 11.3 percent.
Nationally, the unemployment rate declined from 9 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November, the Wall Street Journal reported.
More from GlobalPost: US unemployment rate drops to 8.6 percent
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