State Unemployment Rate Changes YOY

We saw the headline rate for unemployment go down last week.  But since all politics is local, what’s going on in your state?  Here is a handy chart to show you the year over year change in unemployment.  Notice the unemployment in states like Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi went up.  Some of this can be accounted for because of the BP oil spill, and the resulting government policy limiting oil exploration.  West Virginia also felt the effects of limited energy exploration. Nevada and Florida had big jumps in unemployment, and also have been hurt by the housing crisis.  Interesting to look at Illinois.  All the states except Iowa and Missouri bordering it had drops in unemployment.

via chartsbin.com

Another thing to look at is population density and the unemployment rate. For example, Illinois has over 10% unemployment. That affects a lot more people than South Carolina which also has over 10% unemployment. Will be interesting to watch this develop over time.

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