More States Losing Jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) August jobs data for the 50 states and Washington, D.C. shows that the recent slowdown in job growth is spreading through more states even as growth remains strong in others.

Fourteen states lost jobs in August and nine states lost jobs over the two months of July and August. States losing jobs over the past two months include Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas, Rhode Island, Alabama, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin. Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and Connecticut also faced near stagnation in their jobs market as a total of 20 states had less than 0.15% job growth over the two-month period.

At the same time, several Mountain and Southwest states – and a rebuilding Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi – enjoy strong job growth.

Louisiana and Michigan continue to have fewer jobs yr/yr and a total of 20 states – from Kansas and Rhode Island to Oklahoma and Illinois have added less that 1.1% to their job market over the past 12 months. (Despite losing –9.0% of its jobs over the past year, the “un-employment” rate in Louisiana is only 3.4% -- one of the lowest in the country – illustrating just how misleading is the overemphasis on “un-employment” rates.)

Job losses in Information Technology services and in Manufacturing have slowed job growth in many states for the past six years and continue to do so. Job growth in Construction, Finance/Real Estate and other services that have benefited from the recent, exuberant housing boom is weakening but continued in most states through August.

A recent Census report on median household incomes in all 50 states and DC also shows that the purchasing power of median household incomes in 29 states and D.C. fell over the five years 2000 to 2005. Some of the declines are severe. For the US as a whole, real median household incomes fell –2.7% during the period.

This long period of declining household incomes explains much of the current weakness in the jobs market in many states.
Source: USW Alert