[actinic]

Michigan had the 4th best July over July drop in unemployment in the nation - Table 3. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and selected area, seasonally adjusted

Still high of course but at least it's in the right direction. Curiously every single rocky mountain state other than CO has higher unemployment from a year ago. Ditto for sunbelt states ... FL, CA, TX, NM, AZ, NV.

Is the sunbelt allure is starting to tarnish, especially for those looking for jobs?

[YAZ]

Things are bleak here in AZ now.

I'm afraid that the new home construction business will remain so for quite a while.

[actinic]

Originally Posted by YAZ

Things are bleak here in AZ now.

I'm afraid that the new home construction business will remain so for quite a while.

Yes, AZ hasn't improved, in fact it has declined, so I wouldn't exactly categorize it 'in the same boat' ... https://www.city-data.com/forum/15499899-post35.html

[magellan]

Originally Posted by actinic

Michigan had the 4th best July over July drop in unemployment in the nation - Table 3. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and selected area, seasonally adjusted

Still high of course but at least it's in the right direction. Curiously every single rocky mountain state other than CO has higher unemployment from a year ago. Ditto for sunbelt states ... FL, CA, TX, NM, AZ, NV.

Is the sunbelt allure is starting to tarnish, especially for those looking for jobs?

I may have said it here before, but in most of those states, about 40 - 50% of the employment growth over the last decade was tied to the housing boom and relocations. Think of all the employment that is created when you have 20,000/year or more moving to your area (realtors, appraisers, builders, inspectors, title agents, mortgage officers, street builders, etc.). Now turn that switch completely off for a couple of years.

[ehondo670]

You people are so ignorant of economics it's mind boggling. We're heading for the worst economic headwinds in DECADES. The NATIONAL unemployment number - you know, the one that matters - is steadily increasing.

We are not seeing any substantial growth in any sector. This coupled with the fact that the money supply is outweighing demand, spells a recipe for hyperinflation. We're heading down the path that the Japanese did ten years ago...

[jaida]

I wonder how many of those newly employed people in Michigan have had to settle for substandard wages and part-time work. I'm concerned that people's unemployment money has just run out and they are taking whatever they can (read: dead-end jobs) to try to survive. Will we start seeing a spike in people needing welfare services?

[magellan]

Originally Posted by ehondo670

You people are so ignorant of economics it's mind boggling. We're heading for the worst economic headwinds in DECADES. The NATIONAL unemployment number - you know, the one that matters - is steadily increasing.

We are not seeing any substantial growth in any sector. This coupled with the fact that the money supply is outweighing demand, spells a recipe for hyperinflation. We're heading down the path that the Japanese did ten years ago...

Why does the national unemployment number mean more than individual metro area unemployment numbers? Please help edumucate us.

[Coldjensens]

It makes sense to me that Michigan's unemployment numbers are dropping becasue unemployed people are moving to other states (thereby causing their numbers to rise). I amnot sure how the whole tally system works, so maybe this is not possible. However it seem that if 100,000 unemployed people move to Alabama to look for work and only 50,000 of them get jobs, then Alabams unemployment number goes up while ours goes down.

Perhaps things are pretty much stagnant and just moving around.


I do know that the government plays with unemployment numbers. They fire and re-hire people so that they can say that X number of new jobs were created this month. When do the census workers complete their work? When they ar done, something like 140,000 workers will be added to the ranks of unemployed. Of course a lot of them are retirees so they are not really "unemployed", but I wonder how they will be counted in the numbers.

The only thing that I know for certain is that you cannot really trust the reported numbers. They can be twisted or massaged to indicate whatever the reporting agency wants them to show.

[Vision-Quest]

The sunbelt was only a fantasy, and now we know that fantasies should stay as.... fantasies

[malamute]

Great news. We can't support unemployment extensions indefinitely, this news means they can stop, the jobs are coming back!