Unemployment Rates

Matt Hetherington

6/23/13

Dr. Kassens

          Midwest, Southern States Register Lowest Unemployment

As of only one month ago half of the nations states registered declines in their unemployment rates.  Out of the states which recorded lower unemployment rates, the lowest were seen in the Midwest and southern regions (Sarah P 2013).  There are many reasons for unemployment rates to rise and fall.  The most common have to do with Frictional Unemployment, Structural Unemployment, and Voluntary Unemployment.  Making sense of the unemployment rate falling one can interpret that many have decided to get up and find jobs rather then sit around and take time off.  This would fall under the category of frictional unemployment.  Another can interpret that the demand for skilled positions have increased resulting in people who are out of work finding jobs in their skilled area.  This all falls under the idea of Structural employment.  People can think that when there is more of a demand in skilled areas that employment rates would decline due to the amount of people looking for jobs but when I think about it I would like to think it could go either way.  

In May, the states which recorded the lowest unemployment rates were Nebraska and the Dakotas.  The numbers of the states were at or even under 4% (Sarah P 2013).  Nevada, Illinois and Mississippi had the highest rates, all about 9% (Sarah P 2013).  With numerous states seeing a decline in unemployment rates there are also states which saw an increase, 17 to be exact (Sarah P).  If you think about it, there are also many other factors that determine employment/unemployment rates.  If a company is losing money, there is going to be less money to give out to its employers which is going to result in layoffs.  Looking at the numbers declining in unemployment we can interpret that the economy must be running pretty smoothly.  Besides looking at unemployment rates the report also covered changes to payrolls in each state (Sarah P 2013).  The state which saw the most increased payroll was Ohio.  On top of having its payroll being increased, they saw a gain of 32,000 jobs (Sarah P 2013).  The biggest declines were in Pennsylvania which lost 9,200 positions (Sarah P 2013).  When looking at the exact percentage of unemployment, the rate increased exactly .1 from the previous month.  The rate in April was 7.5 and in May increased to 7.6.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it stays steady.  Unemployment is always going to fluctuate, its just the amount it does each time that counts.  If the rate went up to 8 in May, one can interpret that our economy had a terrible month.  

Citation-By Portlock, Sarah. Midwest, Southern States Register Lowest Unemployment at WSJ.com. The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News & Video - Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. Retrieved June 23, 2013, from http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/06/21/midwest-southern-states-register-lowest-unemployment/