Recession and Unemployment

Posted on September 26, 2011 by townsend

• Slump alters Jobless map in U.S., with South hit hard, By Michael Cooper, September 26, 2011, New York Times: “When the unemployment rate rose in most states last month, it underscored the extent to which the deep recession, the anemic recovery and the lingering crisis of joblessness are beginning to reshape the nation’s economic map. The once-booming South, which entered the recession with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, is now struggling with some of the highest rates, recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. Several Southern states – including South Carolina, whose 11.1 percent unemployment rate is the fourth highest in the nation – have higher unemployment rates than they did a year ago. Unemployment in the South is now higher than it is in the Northeast and the Midwest, which include Rust Belt states that were struggling even before the recession…”
• African-American unemployment reaches record highs, By Leslie Kwoh, September 26, 2011, Star-Ledger: “Jeanette Grimes doesn’t need to look at the latest data to know black unemployment has reached record highs. She sees the growing joblessness all around her – on the streets of Trenton, at networking meetings, in her local unemployment office. And she’s felt the pain first-hand, too, as an African-American who was laid off nearly two years ago from her job as a nonprofit organizer. Grimes has since struggled to land work, agonizing as the rejection pile has grown while her savings have dwindled. ‘It’s been pretty rough,’ said Grimes, 48, of Trenton. ‘You become hopeful and think, ‘This job is exactly what I have experience in’ – and then you get a letter saying they hired another candidate.’ While high unemployment is affecting all sectors of the population in this tough economy, African-Americans are by far the hardest-hit demographic. Nationally, black unemployment reached 16.7 percent last month – the highest level since 1984 – even as the jobless rate for whites fell to 8 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department…”