Jobless Rate Climbs In 46 States

Wall Street Journal:

California and North Carolina in March posted their highest jobless rates in at least three decades, as unemployment increased in all but a handful of states during the month, the Labor Department said Friday.

California's unemployment rate jumped to 11.2% in March, while North Carolina rose to 10.8%, the highest for both since the U.S. government began a comprehensive tally of state joblessness in 1976.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[sueinmn]

11:31 PM on 04/18/2009

I hope he has a plan for job creation other than green. We need enough to fulfill the needs of all. Under GWB we kept losing at a faster pace than ever in history. Non union construction pushes for more immigrant workers claiming we will be 10 million workers short in construction which is a lie! We are possibly 10 million short willing to accept the wage they want to pay and this is being heavily lobbyied in Washington. Get control of the visa and green card workers. The immigrants at one time had a great argument that they did the work we refused but today, they are in all fields taking away all jobs. This must be addressed soon!

[jordan3189]

10:12 PM on 04/18/2009

This is becoming redundant "Change we can believe in" "Yes we can"LOL

[marijam]

06:20 PM on 04/18/2009

Whatever the official government report is, you can count on the true rate being twice that. We're just below Great Depression levels.

[davidwayneosedach]

05:51 PM on 04/18/2009

And here Obama is pontificating "glimmers of hope." What happened to the 3 million new jobs he promised?

[marijam]

06:19 PM on 04/18/2009

As projects come on line, the jobs are coming online. When we're 7 million jobs down, 3 million aren't much, but its better than nothing at all. Certainly Bush would not have done a thing, not a thing.

[slowtono]

03:10 PM on 04/18/2009

But banks aren't laying off anyone but tellers. Some how they are making money without new accounts.

[MaryanneAZ]

04:40 PM on 04/18/2009

I suspect they are not "making" money, but "counting" money, namely, ours!

[higgins1990]

12:55 PM on 04/18/2009

When unemployment hits double-digits nationwide, people will hunker down even more, spend less, risk less, making a recovery even more difficult. If the nation has double-digit employment come November 2010, it will be bad news for the Democrats.

[itproinct]

01:08 PM on 04/18/2009

Yeah right. We are all going to jump on the democrats for the horrible mess "W" and the rethugs got us into after 8 years of American oligarchy serving and American working class destruction.

Dream on - the Dems aren't going to be in trouble for a long time.

The one good thing (and only good thing) "W" did for America in 8 years was debunk the pro-rich rethug agenda.

[armadillious2002]

01:54 PM on 04/18/2009

I beg to differ. If the economy has not improved by 2010 I think it will give the Dems some trouble. Little people (workers and small business) need some help and or expanded opportunities and it needs to come by next year.

And tax cuts are not the answer. I believe targeted investment credits and expanded opportunities are the answer. There are some of those in the stimulus bill but I think there should have been much much more and much much less of the other stuff.

[vwoom]

11:52 AM on 04/18/2009

"California's unemployment rate jumped to 11.2% in March, while North Carolina rose to 10.8%, the highest for both..."

So sad.

[armadillious2002]

11:27 AM on 04/18/2009

I had high hopes for the stimulus and all that but it was like a bowl of cold ice water thrown in my face when I saw the details. The little guy was pretty much left out. Oh yeah the 50 bucks a month tax cut - I almost forgot.

IMHO we needed tax credits for individuals to purchase homes and autos and for small business to purchase equipment. I cheered when I heard about the $10,000 tax credit for New Home purchases only to find out later that it was taken out. Hey little guy - stick that where the sun don't shine.

Tax credits work to stimulate and expand the economy and they always have. They temporarily lower revenue but the overall expansion of the economy as industries gear up for new demand quickly outweighs any revenue shortfall.

If there are meaningful tax credits in the stimulus bill then I stand corrected and would appreciate if somone would point them out to me.

[MaryanneAZ]

04:47 PM on 04/18/2009

You're both wrong and impatient. The stimulus has only been in play for weeks, not months or years. And there is an $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers. President Obama is on top of this issue and will make corrections as needed. We just need to throttle back on the criticism and give this President's agenda more than 89 days to work overall.

[KarateKid]

09:58 AM on 04/18/2009

The misleading statistic is that there are tens of millions who allegedly have "full" time jobs and work only 20 hours. If they included the underemployed with the unemployed, the number would be startlingly massive.

[levibatgirl]

12:48 PM on 04/18/2009

Not to mention people who have run out of benefits and still haven't found work.

They aren't included in the stats either which is cr@zy.

[MaryanneAZ]

04:52 PM on 04/18/2009

Not to mention those who are ineligible for unemployment due to disability. In Arizona, they questioned me in my three-wheel scooter on whether I was disabled, and when I replied yes, they told me I was ineligible for UE benefits. One must be "able to work" in order to collect unemployment. Many people, like myself, were on the payroll long-term where supports and accommodations were in place and where disability occurred post-employment, but it is impossible to get a new job to replace such jobs.

[Freedomscap]

09:27 AM on 04/18/2009

I haven't been around in awhile and I like the picture, accompanying your posts, folks.

[Freedomscap]

09:27 AM on 04/18/2009

Don't economist say that once the unemployment rate hits double digits, we are technically, in a depression. Is that merely the national average?

[Ghostzapper]

11:19 AM on 04/18/2009

The general economic definition of a depression is based of decline in GDP. If real GDP decreases greater the 10%, then it is considered a depression. We have not hit those levels. Recession is classically defined as two quarters on negative growth irrespective of the overall magnitude of the decrease. So technically we are in a recession, albeit a very severe one. Unemployment is a result of declining economic growth.

[itproinct]

07:50 AM on 04/18/2009

Great!!!

American Citizens are losing jobs at a brutal pace, and our government keeps piping in hundreds of thousands of "guest workers" and their dependents every year on bogus h1, l1 type visas etc..

Americans Citizens are losing everything, yet the big-business oligarchs still have our government policies in their pockets.

These wage suppressing, career ruining, anti-American guest worker visa programs were brutal enough on American Citizens when the economy was "stable", and I use the term stable loosely.

How guest worker programs can continue in this economy is treasonous to American workers and it needs to stop!

[mat3]

09:08 AM on 04/18/2009

Not to mention the plan to legalize 12 million others here illegally. What's the term, come out of the shadows. Yeah, come out of the shadows and stand in the same line as you to get a job.

[Soulsurfer]

09:42 AM on 04/18/2009

The problem is real enough, that so many illegals are here, keeping wages low and straining our social services, BUT...............blame the companies and people who hire them, NOT the workers themselves. Our government keeps letting Mexico get away with their inept aristocracy in which 1% of their population owns everything (kind of where we're headed). Our government arrests people who only want to earn enough money to feed themselves and their families, and live in a stable society, but lets the "businessmen" who provide the jobs AND exploit these people get away with a slap on the wrist. Believe me, if no one would hire them, they would stop coming, and maybe get serious about changing the way their government works. As long as we recognize their government as legitimate, and let our employers get away with criminal acts, the problem will not change.

[KarateKid]

10:01 AM on 04/18/2009

This is happening elsewhere, in Europe, in Japan, you name it. Why? Because the native citizens don't want to bus tables, mow lawns, work at rental car counters (Avis), or take out the trash. These guest workers are merely filling a need. Most people would rather be unemployed while putting on airs and feel too uppity to do these menial jobs.

[jdw1981]

10:22 AM on 04/18/2009

That might be true when the job market is healthier, but certainly not now. In Ohio recently there was a janitor's job that made headlines because there were over 700 applicants for it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29574766/

There was also a story recently in Maine, where I live, about more than 500 applying for another janitorial job. And these are not (obviously) illegal immigrants.

[mat3]

10:27 AM on 04/18/2009

Well then we will have a real problem if we legalize them won't we since as Americans they won't want these jobs anymore. Guess we'll have to import another 12 million illegals to replace them because the ones we just legalized will move on to more traditional American jobs, like yours and mine.

[MajorKong]

06:00 AM on 04/18/2009

Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?

[mat3]

09:11 AM on 04/18/2009

We're going to get t-bagged.

[TeaBaggersRLosers]

03:34 AM on 04/18/2009

America has killed MILLIONS of innocent people in Vietnam, Iraq, etc etc etc.

Using LIES as the base for their actions.

American men and women killling and raping women and children in Iraq, Afghanistan with WMD, sometimes even joking about it as if those people aren't real human beings.

There IS such a thing as COLLECTIVE karma in addition to INDIVIDUAL karma.

Ask any Japanese person that lived during the 40's.

[Right-turn]

07:25 AM on 04/18/2009

If we are ever taken over, you will be tried as a co-conspirator. You and your family helped to fund these activities through your taxes.

[TeaBaggersRLosers]

09:21 AM on 04/18/2009

I don't pay US taxes.

[klaatu barada nikto]

09:06 AM on 04/18/2009

This is a global phenomena.

[Carolab]

01:56 AM on 04/18/2009

Unemployment increased in all but a handful of states during the month.

By a lot.