“State unemployment at a glance” (3/11/09)

The Associated Press released this historical unemployment data a week and a half ago.  For some reason they didn’t bother to format it in a table; it just looks like their journalist smart alecks exported the data from a spreadsheet or something.

Maybe this is what happens when the newspaper industry fires too many of its key IT people.

Here I’ve performed a humble public service by putting this information in a table for your edification and analysis.  Enjoy, fellow armchair labor economists.

(DC-metro states are shown in medium blue; regional neighbors in pale blue.)

A:  “rank of each state based on the January 2009 unemployment rate, with a lower number indicating a lower rate”

B:  “state's unemployment rate for January 2009”

C:  “[unemployment] rate for December 2008”

D:  “[unemployment] rate for January 2008”


E:  “the month and year unemployment peaked [from January 1976 onwards]”

F:  “peak unemployment rate since January 1976”

State	A	B	C	D	E	F
Alabama	31	7.8	6.5	3.9	Dec. 1982	14.4
Alaska	34	7.9	6.8	6.4	July 1986	11.5
Arizona	24	7	6.6	4.4	Feb. 1983	11.5
Arkansas	17	6.4	5.7	4.8	Mar. 1983	10.2
California	48	10.1	8.7	6.1	Feb. 1983	11
Colorado	19	6.6	5.8	4.3	Nov. 1982	9.1
Connecticut	27	7.3	6.6	5	Jan. 1976	10
Delaware	21	6.7	5.7	3.9	Jan. 1977	8.2
District of Columbia	44	9.3	8.2	5.9	Mar. 1983	11.4
Florida	37	8.6	7.6	5	Mar. 1976	9.7
Georgia	37	8.6	7.5	5.2	Jan. 2009	8.6
Hawaii	15	6.1	5.1	3	Mar. 1976	10.2
Idaho	19	6.6	6.1	3.7	Feb. 1983	9.4
Illinois	34	7.9	7.2	5.8	Feb. 1983	12.9
Indiana	43	9.2	7.8	4.8	Nov. 1982	12.8
Iowa	6	4.8	4.4	3.9	May 1983	8.5
Kansas	13	5.8	5	3.9	Sept. 1982	7.4
Kentucky	40	8.7	7.6	5.5	Dec. 1982	12.1
Louisiana	8	5.1	5.5	3.8	Sept. 1986	12.9
Maine	31	7.8	6.5	4.8	Mar. 1977	9
Maryland	16	6.2	5.4	3.6	Aug. 1982	8.3
Massachusetts	29	7.4	6.4	4.6	Jan. 1976	10.9
Michigan	51	11.6	10.2	7.3	Nov. 1982	16.9
Minnesota	30	7.6	6.6	4.8	Nov. 1982	9
Mississippi	40	8.7	7.8	6	May 1983	13.7
Missouri	36	8	7.1	5.5	Apr. 1983	10.5
Montana	12	5.6	5	3.9	May 1983	8.7
Nebraska	3	4.3	3.9	3	Feb. 1983	6.8
Nevada	45	9.4	8.4	5.3	Dec. 1982	10.7
New Hampshire	8	5.1	4.3	3.5	June 1992	7.7
New Jersey	27	7.3	6.8	4.6	Feb. 1977	10.6
New Mexico	8	5.1	4.7	3.7	Apr. 1983	9.9
New York	24	7	6.6	4.7	July 1976	10.5
North Carolina	46	9.7	8.1	5	Feb. 1983	10.2
North Dakota	2	4.2	3.3	3	Mar. 1983	6.9
Ohio	42	8.8	7.4	5.7	Jan. 1983	13.8
Oklahoma	7	5	4.6	3.3	Aug. 1986	9.4
Oregon	47	9.9	8.3	5.3	Nov. 1982	12.1
Pennsylvania	24	7	6.4	4.6	Mar. 1983	12.9
Rhode Island	49	10.3	9.4	6.3	Jan. 2009	10.3
South Carolina	50	10.4	8.8	5.7	Jan. 1983	11.4
South Dakota	4	4.4	3.7	2.7	Oct. 1982	5.9
Tennessee	37	8.6	7.6	5.3	Dec. 1982	12.4
Texas	17	6.4	5.6	4.4	Oct. 1986	9.3
Utah	5	4.6	4.1	3.2	Mar. 1983	9.7
Vermont	22	6.8	5.9	4.3	June 1976	9
Virginia	14	6	5	3.4	Jan. 1983	7.8
Washington	31	7.8	6.5	4.6	Nov. 1982	12.2
West Virginia	11	5.3	4.5	4.1	Mar. 1983	18.2
Wisconsin	23	6.9	5.9	4.4	Jan. 1983	11.8
Wyoming	1	3.7	3.2	2.7	May 1983	10.1

Ben and Babs, please listen to us...

I sent versions of this to Maryland Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin.

Re Stimulus Bill  [orig. sent to NPR’s Diane Rehm Show]

The panic being shown by [legislative] Democrats … is hurting their cause.  They are forcing this behemoth through and shutting down too much debate in the center.

The level of hostility and arrogance shown by leftist Dems is undermining support for the bill by the hour.

Many centrists want this bill broken up into at least two parts: relief (transfer payments) and reinvestment (infrastructure and other targeted spending).  These areas should be hammered out separately.

Giving this unprecendented [scale of] power and money to technocrats coupled with such little accountability and reform is a potential disaster in the making.

Thank you,

--[Name Withheld] in Silver Spring [Wheaton], Maryland

[Senator Mikulski et al., I have been a loyal Democrat all my life; I switched to unaffiliated / independent this January because I fear that “hope” and “change” [are] not translating into dialogue and reform under the current incarnation of the Democratic Party.  Please do not ignore your progressive centrist constituents.  There are more of us out there than you may think.]