by Mish
The Wall Street Journal comments These Eight States Still Haven’t Regained All Their Lost Jobs.
Nonfarm payrolls in June still lag high-water marks set in 2008 or earlier in eight states struggling against headwinds like population loss and the manufacturing sector’s long-term decline: Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio and Wyoming.
At the same time, unemployment rates were at all-time lows in six states, a mix of regions that are experiencing strong growth and other places with slower job gains and possible worker outflows: Arkansas, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington. Records for state unemployment rates go back to 1976.
Some areas face structural challenges, such as factory employment’s long decline. Across a swath of the industrial Midwest – Illinois, Michigan and Ohio – employment peaked back in 2000 and still hasn’t recovered to that level after two national recessions and two recoveries.
For other states, the local jobs recovery has simply been much slower than the national average.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
