Meltdown 101: Unemployment by State rising

WASHINGTON (AP) - Texas added the third-highest number of jobs among the states last month—but its unemployment rate still jumped because thousands of jobless people streamed into the work force. That's typical of the Labor Department's July state employment report, which includes a wealth of good news and bad news—often from the same state. Another example from the July report, released Friday: Michigan added 38,100 jobs, just ahead of Texas but behind New York, and its unemployment rate fell. That's clearly good news, but its jobless rate is still a sky-high 15 percent. That's bad news. Overall, 17 states and the District of Columbia reported lower unemployment rates in July—a significant improvement from June, when only 5 states experienced drops. But in the bad news category, 26 states saw their jobless rates rise. Fifteen states and the district have unemployment rates above 10 percent. Good news: Twenty-one states and the district added jobs last month, compared to only 10 in June. Bad news: Twenty-nine states still lost jobs. These and other tidbits can be found in the Regional and State Employment and Unemployment report. Here are some other interesting details, by the numbers.

STATES OF PAIN
15 percent: Michigan's unemployment rate, the nation's highest
12.7 percent: Rhode Island's unemployment rate, the second highest
12.5 percent: Nevada's rate
11.9 percent: California's rate
11.9 percent: Oregon's rate

STATES OF CONTENTMENT
4.2 percent: North Dakota's unemployment rate, the nation's lowest
4.9 percent: Nebraska's rate, the second lowest
4.9 percent: South Dakota's rate
6 percent: Utah's rate
6.5 percent: Wyoming's rate
6.5 percent: Oklahoma's rate

JOB GAINERS
62,100: Jobs added in New York in July
38,100: Jobs added in Michigan
37,900: Jobs added in Texas
15,600: Jobs added in Tennessee
13,200: Jobs added in District of Columbia

JOB LOSERS
35,800: Jobs lost in California
26,400: Jobs lost in North Carolina
25,200: Jobs lost in Florida
13,000: Jobs lost in Illinois

WESTERN WOES
10.5 percent: Unemployment in the Western region
10.2 percent: Unemployment in the Midwest
9.3 percent: Unemployment in the South
8.7 percent: Unemployment in the Northeast Copyright 2009

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