Unemployment: The Hardest-Hit States (CHART)

Michigan has the highest unemployment rate of any state at 14.1 percent, a distinction the state has held for 25 of the last 26 months.

The next-highest unemployment rates after Michigan's were found in Oregon (12.4 percent), Rhode Island and South Carolina (12.1 percent), and California (11.5 percent), according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday. The unemployment rate reached double-digits in five states and the District of Columbia in May. The national rate is 9.4 percent.

Some economists have touted "green shoots" and talked up the recession as "bottoming out" this year. But the misplaced optimism hasn't reached everybody.

Progressive economists say that unemployment will likely continue to rise nationwide into 2010. And while economists cheered lower-than-expected increases in job losses for May, the state-by-state breakdown reveals the unevenness of the recession.

Optimism "hasn't been a problem in Michigan," said Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League for Human Services, in an interview with the Huffington Post. "There were no signs of hope in our numbers."

Putnam said her organization is concerned that nearly 90,000 unemployed workers will exhaust their unemployment benefits before the end of the year. "Our biggest concern is that our safety net for folks coming off unemployment benefits has really shrunk. It's really not there," she said.

Putnam noted that if it includes marginally attached workers, unemployed folks who've quit looking for work, and forced part-timers, the "true" unemployment rate in Michigan is 17.2 percent.

Michigan also boasts the nation's weakest-performing metro area, Detroit, according to the Brookings Institution.

Here's a table from the Economic Policy Institute that compares state unemployment levels:

20090619-unemployment-by-state -

Comments

[grace14]

Thanks to Bush and his failed 8 years?..What do we expect a surprise or shocked at this...thousandsss of American Companies took our America jobs and gave them to china..over the last 8 years.....not love of country first for those Americans.....worship of wealth greed first, you think?......
Was on Lou Dobbs night after night for the last 5 years, Lou Dobbs even naming the companies all America companies leaving America......so what do you want Pres Obama to do? Bush did nothing, even helped Companies out with our tax dollars --gave Companies, the wealthy massive tax cuts and massive tax loop holes.19,000 mail boxes off shores..paid their way there. No money in banks no jobs left in America, damaged the ones that stayed...good job Bush...

.......Bush tax cuts lost $2.5 Trillion in tax revenues in last 8 years and still climbing till the tax cuts end in 2012 till Pres Obama reverses tax laws.. by 2012 will be more then $2.5 Trillion dollars ....4 more years to go...total lost tax revenue will be greater greater then Pres Obama's budget and stimulus put together..Republicans do not tell us that do they.....they work for the wealthly and are good at fear mongering and starting their unjust wars....

[sandyra]

Not surprised Michigan is the worst place to find a job. Just moved from there last year because there were no jobs to be had. Wayne county really hurt the homeowners by illegally using foreclosed homes prices for their appraisal comparisons for people trying to get mortgages. The sellers lost thousands of dollars on the sales of their homes because of this illegally forced deflation practice. By law, the state/county is supposed to use ONLY homes sold on the free market NOT homes taken back by banks through foreclosure. Homes sold for pennies on the dollar were used in comparison sale appraisals that made home prices sink by tens of thousands of dollars. My $310,000 2400 sq ft (5 yr old) 2 story, full basement home with an extended stone work enclosed patio and professionally landscaped lot was sold for 245,000 and we were lucky to get that! The house was pristine with the finest appliances on the market and we got the shaft because of the county's practices. But what could we do? We had found jobs out of state. It's happening everywhere in Michigan. Our neighbors have had their homes listed for 1-3 years and the offers for their homes were even lower than mine. DON'T move to Michigan. It's the epicenter for the nation's depression. It's a ghost town. There is nothing there for you. So, so sorry to have to write that. Times are really hard right now.

[billblow3]

For all you na sayers out here, ha idiots, the guys been in office for 5 months, in case you have been living in a cave over the last 8yrs your CRIMINAL buddy Bush and his thugs were running the country into the ground and not one of you fools out here said nothing, even when Bush sat on Tv and lied to the nation about Iraq and WMDs none of you said nothing. Thousands of Americans TROOPS are dead and still counting, 10 billion dollars being spent in Iraq a month and still counting but let you na sayers out here tell it, OBAMA is the reason why the country and the jobs are going down the drain. Eight yrs ago, this country had a surplus of 283 billion dollars and the country and the world was ok,but once that CRIMINAL Bush and his thugs stole both election 2000 and 2004 you see the results here and around the world. So save your negative crap and FOX NEWS talking points for those idiots out here. Real American know the TRUTH about reality.

[mero909]

Ahhh, my beloved Texas is doing alright. :) Props to the #1 Energy Producing state in the Union.

[kassandrasduplex]

And the state primarily behind the theft of the so-called "energy crisis". El Paso Energy, ENRON, et al. Robbed the western progressive democracies blind and Bush Cheney did zip to stop them until the treasuries were broke. Read the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's report on the energy crisis. The one released five days or so after Bush invaded Iraq, the one most people missed entirely.

[Garrett123]

How's that secession coming?
Need some Northern help?

[learnsomething]

mero...7.1 is not alright to me.

[Jabo22]

Texas isn't doing all that well my firend. I lost my job in the semiconductor industry after 20 years, along with a lot of others and it doesn't look good for them coming back.

I will now need to retool for another industry. So much for bringing high tech jobs to the US because they are all being shipped oversees or the foreign companies such as Samsung here in Austin lay off Americans and replace then with Koreans with Visa.

Too bad no one listened to Ross Perot, and come someone please shut off that loud sucking sound, it's really bothering me.

[plumnelly]

In Washington state a measure was passed and signed into law giving H1B'S workers the same tuition rate as state residents for our state colleges and universities. This was strong armed into law while we have a state budget crisis and hundreds of millions of dollars in cutbacks to higher education. It was nicknamed the " Microsoft subsidy bill ". I thought the whole point of employing H1B's was because they had a particular skill our American worker didn't have so why do they need more training? What the hell is going on? Our American workers are not represented by our so called American corporations. Bill Gates you are shameful!
We have almost depression era unemployment and this outsourcing and H1B visa workers are being employed to the detriment of our unemployed computer workers. This should be illegal, it's certainly unethical when Amercans can't find jobs and our kids have to drop out of college, yet H1B visa workers are given special breaks. They're supposed to be here temporary and with an employment crisis in our country common sense asks, " why are they still in our country?" I'm disgusted with tech companies, they're as bad as wall street and the bankers. They don't care about their fellow Americans it's greed, greed, greed.

[therealredstateblues]

Lots of good minimum wage jobs at the Whataburger I hear

[den1953]

All you Conservatives that made tons of money under GW Bush can afford a vacation over in Iraq after all he invaded it for your windfall you don't like what President Obama is doing please don't be a chicken hawk sign up for the peace core do you a world of good. Or better yet sign up for a China tour that's where all you retards sent the jobs in the first place hell with all your money you made the last 8 years you should live quite comfortable after 8 years move back when the country finally gets out of Bush's cluster F**k.

[levi501]

I miss the good 'ole days of December 2007. We didn't know how good we had it then.

[comeback]

this chart looks like the 2008 election....High Unemployment=Obama.........Lower =Republican States....

[kassandrasduplex]

And lower population states with lower standards of living and lower safety nets and wages. We can solve everything by moving to a South East Ay Sia pay rate of 46 cents and hour...

[rlkinny]

What? The South has very high unemployment -- hardly an Obama stronghold. Also, isn't this where all those Republican governors were falling all over themselves to trash talk the idea of stimulus money?

[ClareP]

Has it occurred to you that this whole dynamic predates the election? The steep rise in unemployment began early last fall- and the number of people fed up with the failure of the Bush economy was a big part of what got Obama elected. It's just ignorant to suggest these figures are caused by Obama's policies- you've got it all backwards.

[learnsomething]

I was waiting for someone like you to post. This high unemployment started long before President Obama was elected.

[comeback]

were there's Liberal Democrat policy...there's problems

[Lorianne]

It's not about Obama. It's about the States' relative business friendly climate.

[bibimimi]

Have u noticed how that map seems to echo a red state/blue state breakdown? Starve the educated working middle class who supports THE OTHER!

[therealredstateblues]

Indiana is about as red as it gets and we are hurting too - the worst unemployment in the nation is currently ijn the South bend elkhart region where the RV industry has collapsed

of course our republican governor Mitch keeps telling everyone how great our economy is in indiana

at least in rightwingoverse it is

[comeback]

You libs haven't seen anything yet...you obviously don't know what happens when money is printed ,and the government tries to run things

[latebuck]

The entire Big Ten went for Obama, and the last I looked, Indiana was in the Big Ten. So, Indiana is not as "red" as you say it is.

[RobDykstra]

You can double all those numbers on the chart and get the REAL unemployment rate.

[joecoolconservative]

Barry where are the jobs? Why does the unemployment rate continue to rise even after you promised once the Porkulus Bill was passed unemployment would not top 8%? Barry, why do people continue to lose their homes? Where is the free mortgage money? Barry, where is the hope? Barry, will you pay my mortgage?

[chronic]

joefoolconservative,

You and your ilk want this Pres. to fail. Remember???

[joecoolconservative]

Yes if it means he fails to send us on the road to socialism then yes, I want him to fail and fail big.

[verycold]

If the policies are right no political party can make a president fail can they?

A few months ago, Obama remarked that some jobs that have gone overseas are gone forever. It was good that he admitted that. However he was suggesting they weren't all that good of jobs anyway, and so.....

In my neck of the woods, things continue to slow down. I recently went to a large state park that I am very familiar with only to find it virtually empty. That particular in June was outstanding, meaning it won't get any better and barely any campers and absolutely nobody using the facilities like the ball fields, swimming beach, and not a soul doing any outdoor cooking. The beach dressing room was empty and not even wet indicating any use. I knew then we are in deep trouble.

[comeback]

Do you mean the same way,you wanted Bush to fail...or do you mean Socialism

[kassandrasduplex]

We could have had a bill requiring banks to obey a bankruptcy judge's order to renegotiate a first mortgagae and rate (the bank labelled "cramdown" bill but more honestly a fairness bill) but Obama failed to be much of a Bully Pulpit speaker for that. He has also failed to push for a pure EFCA bill, apparently happy to see it watered down terribly.

[comeback]

And to boot...Look at all the Liberal Democrat States...wont see that on MSNBC

[kassandrasduplex]

Yeah, the concentration of wealth means when the Big Boys want to play beggar they neighbor they can just pull al their marbles out of the progressive states that try to maintain a decent standard of living through progressive regulation and go to a right to work state where people are used and tossed.
Progressive taxation and international minimum wage laws would solve all this quite effectively.

[Merckx]

Do you really want an answer or are you just a whiner? EVERYONE, including economists of all stripes have said repeatedly and clearly, that employment is the lagging indicator in a recession of this magnitude. If President Obama had followed the recommendations of the Republican Congress we would be in much worse shape now. If you think the spending bill was expensive, be darn glad we have avoided a full blown depression, which is where we were headed.
BTW, your disrespect is pathetic.

[Hillrick]

Too bad guys like this didn't make so much as a peep when they were being told f airy tales and "you're one of them or you're one of us!"

[John Galish]

Thanks for standing up to the ignorant.

[Lorianne]

None of this is Obama's fault (except to the extent he voted for the bailouts while he was a Senator ... he shares the blame with many there).

The bailouts were a bad idea when Bush was in and they're a bad idea now. They won't help, they'll only prolong the misery.

No President can 'fix' this economy. But the current policies are making the situation worse.

Prepare for a hard landing.

[beccasmecka]

People continue to lose their homes because they bought more then they could afford.

[kassandrasduplex]

I thought it was because the banks approved any and all applications using pension fund money (when they got fraudulent aaa ratings from big insurers who have since been bailed out by you, and then sold the toxic bundled mortgages to the pension funds and others). Then the economy, built on a fraudulent financing scheme created by the very biggest banks crumbled when most all the pension funds were tapped out. And the little people took the fall. It all reminded me of the S & L scandal in the 80s. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Merckx]

Your explanation is too simplistic. In some cases, yes, they over leveraged, but it many others, either because a homeowner has lost a good job or family has become swamped with unexpected medical expenses, people are losing their homes.
You seem quite confident in your ability to stay in your home. Either your home is paid off, or you inherited a lot of money. But if you have a job, you should be hoping we are at the bottom of this recession and not the beginning. A little empathy would probably earn you some respect too. Arrogance is unbecoming and uncivilized.

[dzent1]

You're mostly wrong there, sparky.

People bought homes they were qualified for by the very institutions crying for bailouts. To blame it on the homeowners is disingenuous, to say the least. The malfeasance of the last administration caused this mess, and you know it.

Decades of Wall Street greed by Republicans, lax oversight by regulators, the shipping of all manufacturing jobs overseas that destroyed the middle class, unpayable health care costs leading to bankruptcy, skyrocketing energy markups that bear no relation to actual costs, on and on - that's the legacy of the Republicans, and everyone knows it.

[je7374]

Pretty much untrue. One of the things happening is the loss of wages. People are taking 20 or 30% paycuts and are being made to pony up for healthcare. When they were approved for their mortgage, even a conventional one, it was based on what they had earned during the Clinton years, when there was a fairer distribution of wealth.

[QwikSand]

A chart like this would be made much better by one additional column with the percentage of the overall U.S. population that resides in each state. It would provide a context for statistics from Utah, Wyoming etc. where there are more prairie dogs or cows than people. Those numbers would then be seen for what they are: meaningless.

[comeback]

They go by percentages..so the chart is correct..Hows them Liberal states doing

[Conservador-Rebelde]

They all just want Obama to give them money, they don't like to search for jobs.

[majii]

I live in GA. My two republican senators voted against the stimulus and the mortgage cramdown bill. People here are calling them about losing their homes and jobs. As I see it, neither one of them was really interested in helping the people who put them in office when it came down to it. I'm watching closely to see if they can perform any of their fiscally-conservative tricks to help their supporters. I didn't vote for either of them, bought a house I can afford, and have a good-paying job. Folks here would not listen when progressives showed them the voting record of the one who ran for re-election last year. As far as I'm concerned, they got what they paid for when they cast their votes for him. Lots of people in the Atlanta area, north GA and south GA are now losing their homes at an ever-increasing rate and, they were among his strongest supporters. I'm not gloating because they're losing their homes, just angry that they did not send someone to the Senate who would have had their best interests in mind instead of someone who supports partisan politics for the sole purpose of scoring political points.

[maigesheng]

I was thinking something similar. If I were to leave my depressed state and move to a state with less unemployment, wouldnt my moving there make that state one more person depressed?

Population is key.

and please, trolls (not this poster but others in this articlle) stop pretending that the economy was booming under Bush. This was all started by Bush and his cronyism

How is BlackWater doing these days? How is Haliburton doing these days?

[chickenNgravy]

Wyoming has about 500,000 people. The unemployment went from 2.5 % to 5% when oil and gas prices went down because a lot of producers just capped their wells. Oil and gas are ramping up again, windmill projects are planned all over (it is windy in Wyoming) and we are the nations top coal producer.

The State Government has 8 billion dollars in a reserve 'rainy day' fund. New schools are being built in nearly every community in Wyoming. Multiple highway and road projects are getting started. Hospitals are constantly looking for nurses and techs.

"Wyoming has put to work some 94 percent of the $157.6 in stimulus money it received earlier this year, leading the nation in percent "obligated" -- meaning projects have gone through environmental reviews and are ready to go to contract. " Casper Star Tribune 6-22-09

My recommendations for some great towns, beautiful scenery, good schools, good job prospects-Buffalo, Sheridan, Cody, Evanston, Gillette and Lander.

[chickenNgravy]

Other nice Wyoming towns with good kobs-Powell, Laramie, Worland, Thermopolis (worlds largest hot springs) and Kemmerer.

[SwingingFromCenter]

The reason they're based on percentages is to account for population differences. 5% is 5% no matter where you go.

[Harrier]

I live in Southern California. Thought my job was doing OK, until a few days ago when our customer decided to cut funding on a contract that was suppose to last the 2013. I have gone from feeling lucky to have a job and working 60-65 hours to keep my job my job, to losing it. I don't see anything the government is doing that's helping business or the working person. 20% of corporations have reduced matching in the 401Ks. CEOs are making unreal money. 10 years ago, the top 1% controlled 9% of the wealth, now they control 19%. Looked at my car registration bill yesterday and saw it increased 3 fold over last year-my car is 10 years old. The credit swaps and mortgage industry has destroyed 30 of the worlds wealths. Manufacturing use to be the hub of California. Now that the government has allowed it to be absorbed by the other countries without any strategy to help, I don't see much future in the middle class-more likely a long slow death. There's not enough middle class money to support economic growth. The things that need to be done to clean up the economic system are so great that I don't see congress intelligent enough to resolve it. I don't see the possibility of the depression leveling off until the 4th quarter 09, but worse than that, I don't see the economy growing at all until next year 2010 (1 year from now) .

[kassandrasduplex]

10 years ago as reported in Harper's Index, less than 2% of Americans owned or controlled more than 60 % of the publicly traded stock on the NYSE. It's time to return to progressive taxation, as Roosevelt did for us. But don't hold your breath for Obama to do so.

[daffnee]

Why is it always the government's responsibility to fix this? They've shown over and over that they haven't a clue what to do, they're too busy sniping at one another and selling us out to special interests. If they regulate more, the special interests will just "buy" loopholes to get around the new regulations... Congress seems to forget they work for us (remember "We the people"?)

Why do we keep reelecting these folks?? When are "we the people" going to wake up and elect people with INTEGRITY to office?

Yeah, I know, I'm chasing windmills.

[kellysmalltowngirl]

How can you reliably tell which candidate is the one with integrity?

I wish I knew, as I'm sure you do.

[dzent1]

Only ONE WAY to fix the problem of corrupt officials, and that's mandatory jail time for any government official, elected or appointed, who takes a single cent from any lobbyist, business, or corporation.

This would not apply to money from individual citizens, but the acceptable amount from any single contributor should be set at a low figure.

Along with jail, add the automatic loss of all pensions, insurance, government access, and ability to run for future office. Anything less than a hard line will do no good.

These guys have for years sat back comfily while SWAT teams kick down YOUR doors to arrest and jail YOU for smoking an herb without their permission, all because of many decades of payola from the chemical, pharmaceutical, alcohol and timber lobbies.

It's past time to show these crooks who the real rulers in America are. VOTE THEM OUT IN 2010, and vote in people who actually give a damn about what you and your family want for your tax money.

[maigesheng]

You are onto something here. The Republican strategy since reagan at least was to destroy the middle class. Clinton and his LIBERAL economics didnt help at all, what weith NAFTA and the whole push for free trade. (Read outsourcing, etc.)

This is a major historical shift of wealth. We have seen it coming for some time now and it is sad to see anyone surprised.

My suggestion to poor people. Hang tight, get money where you can, and STOP HAVING KIDS.

Its sad =(

[kassandrasduplex]

Prof. Michael Hudson some months back referred to this as the "greatest transfer of wealth to a new ruling class since William the Conqueror took England." Most AMericans haven't a clue this has happened as their sources of info (the boob tube) haven't enlightened them to the fact.

[kellysmalltowngirl]

Yes, and things are going to have to get worse (more of the upper middle class is going to have really feel the pinch and become lower middle class) before they will get motivated to support higher taxes for the wealthy. As it stands now, those who still have disposable income think they are one of the wealthy who will be taxed.

Obama is waiting for the right moment, and it will come. It won't be pretty.

[oregondaisy]

Not necessarily......Oregon has a relatively low population, 3,790,060 (28th most populated), and our unemployment is the 2nd highest in the country. The main reason our unemployment is so high are the loss of jobs in manufacturing, logging and fishing. The county I grew up in has a rate of 20% right now. Luckily, the rate here in Portland isn't as bad as the rest of the state.

[Iraqnophobia]

sure it sucks in Oregon, but at least the spotted owls are thriving...

[SwingingFromCenter]

The losses in IT jobs is more than logging, fishing and manufacturing combined, I think.

[FaeKnight]

We moved out of Oregon to BC last year so we could start a business. My husband had been unemployed for a couple of years. His industry left the US for all intents and purposes. We had been surviving on my salary while we were trying to start a business.

My employer has been threatening to obsolete my job function for years and were taking steps to follow through. We had already had several layoffs with the promise of more. This employer was the only one left in the area with this job function (others had outsourced to other states / countries), loss of this job would have left us stranded.

We saw the writing on the wall. We were already watching the economy closely when Bear Sterns collapsed in March 2008. Then we started making arrangements for relocation (outsourcing ourselves so to speak). We got out 3 weeks before Lehman Bros collapsed.

While the recession has hit up here also, it's not as bad. We found investors for our company and in the next few months will be going public.

The odd thing is we tried to tell people how bad things really were and what was coming, but were met with disbelief and even hostility. We eventually got tired of people looking at us as though we grew a second head right before their eyes, and went stealth with our plans - didn't even talk to relatives about it anymore.

PS: Oregon is ranked the number 1 state

[FaeKnight]

HuffPo truncated the last sentence:

Oregon is ranked number 1 for depression

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

Seems like the place to go is one of the low population states. I guess there are plenty of jobs in agriculture.

[kassandrasduplex]

You can go to the low wage right-to-work states. Just work for less and then you'll get "ahead". That's the capitalist method, paradox nothwithstanding. We have just witnessed a new Ruling Class created in America with the Bush-Obama TARP handing over a trillion dollars worth of American real estate to the richest investors for 7 cents on the dollar. And now private equity firms like Platinum group are buying up venerable big employers like PPG and Delphi. We need to tax these folks higher or they will take ownership of the entire country and the rest of us will be landless, impoverished peasants.

[maigesheng]

landless, impoverished peasants.

YIKES.

It is a historical shift of wealth. To Change this, we need historical action and peple need to think WAY out of the box.

Watch Iran. Think Mussolini.

Were in bad shape

[comeback]

you should go to a Republican state...you will have to work though

[kassandrasduplex]

The so-called "liberal states" like the one that gave us REagan, Nixon and Schwarzenegger, hav workers so lazy they managed to make that state the 6th largest economy in the world.

[Garrett123]

Naw, you all can slop your own pig farms.