36 States Report Declines in Unemployment
According to a government report out today, most states are reporting declining unemployment for November. The last time unemployment rates declined in a majority of states was April:
“It’s an encouraging sign that something different is happening, but I still believe unemployment is headed higher from here,” said Well Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner.
In a normal economy, Vitner said about 100,000 people enter the workforce each month. As the economy recovers from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, that number could double each month for at least a year, he said.
That would mean that more than 2 million jobs would have to be created over the year just to keep the unemployment rate from rising.
“We’re not that far from a point where job gains will outweigh job losses, but that’s not enough to reduce the unemployment rate,” he said. …
“We’re not getting excited for sharp declines because people will return to the workforce as we start to create jobs, and that will slow the decline,” said Craig Thomas, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group. “But we will see a continued drop in unemployment rates.”
But hiring continues to be sporadic, and these unemployment rate drops could indicate that a number of people have stopped looking for work.
The number of people jobless for at least six months rose last month to 5.9 million, according to a separate report released earlier this month. And the average length of unemployment exceeds 28 weeks, the longest on records dating to 1948.
In all, 19 states added jobs in November, down from 28 in October. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia suffered a net loss of jobs.
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