Courtesy of BLS data shows Unemployment Rate Tops 10% In 15 States.
Unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia last month, according to federal data released Friday. The rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984.
The Federal Reserve this week projected that the national unemployment rate, currently at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, will pass 10 percent by the end of the year.
The Labor Department said it’s the first time in 25 years that any state has suffered an unemployment rate of at least 15 percent. In 1984, it was West Virginia.
The state unemployment report underscores the damage that the longest recession since World War II has inflicted on companies, workers and communities.
The other 14 states where unemployment topped 10 percent last month were: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.
While Michigan’s rate was the highest in the U.S. in June, the record-high for the state was 16.9 percent in November 1982.
Fed Walks Prediction Up
As noted in Optimistic Unemployment and Housing Forecasts Looking Downright Silly the Fed previously forecast the unemployment rate at 8.4% for 2009 while I called for 9.8% by August. The Fed’s adverse scenario for 2009 was 8.9%.
Here are the Fed’s assumptions for the recently conducted "stress-free test" as laid out in the Fed’s Stress Test White Paper.
Now that the unemployment rate is 9.5% the Fed is calling for 10% by the end of the year.
We could see that by September. What the Fed is doing is slowly walking its prediction up, to match the dismal jobs picture as it unfolds.
No Return to ‘Full’ Employment Until 2015
Former Fed governor Meyer sees No Return to ‘Full’ Employment Until 2015.
The U.S. won’t see a return to “full” employment for another six years, helping to hold down inflation, according to former Federal Reserve Governor Laurence Meyer.
“I think there’s going to be a long legacy of the financial crisis and the deep recession,” Meyer said in an interview today on Bloomberg Radio.
The economy is “a very, very long way off” from its potential growth rate, Meyer said.
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