Global| Sep 18 2020State Labor Markets in August
Summary
State labor market data in August was broadly comparable to July, with widespread drops in unemployment and increases in jobs. 41 states report statistically significant declines in their unemployment rate, led by Massachusetts' 4.9 [...]
State labor market data in August was broadly comparable to July, with widespread drops in unemployment and increases in jobs. 41 states report statistically significant declines in their unemployment rate, led by Massachusetts' 4.9 percentage-point drop. In contrast, though, Kentucky's rate soared 3.1 percentage points and Rhode Island was up 1.5 percentage points. Kentucky had reported oddly low rates of 4.4 percent in June and 4.5 percent rate in July; the August surge in the Blue Grass State reflected a very large increase in the workforce. Ten states (including Massachusetts, despite its large August drop) continue to report unemployment rates above 10 percent, led by Nevada's 13.2 percent, but 4 (South Dakota, Idaho, Utah, and Vermont) have rates under 5 percent.
40 states had statistically significant increases in payrolls in August, with New York's 153,300 increase the highest in the nation. Both New York and New Jersey report the highest percentage gain, 1.8 percent. All states (and DC) report job levels this August lower than last August; Idaho is the only locality where the drop was not statistically significant. Government employment grew noticeably from July to August in most states, surely largely reflecting Census hiring. Once again, gains in leisure and hospitality were widespread.
Although in August New York and New Jersey led the way in job growth, and Massachusetts in unemployment rate improvement, it remains the case that measured by unemployment rates or job loss over the last year the Northeast is in a weaker state than the rest of the nation, particularly compared to Rocky Mountain states such as Idaho and Utah.
Puerto Rico also saw a large increase in jobs in August—12,800, or 1.6 percent. As was the case on the mainland, government job numbers moved up; however, leisure and hospitality edged down.
Charles Steindel
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Charles Steindel has been editor of Business Economics, the journal of the National Association for Business Economics, since 2016. From 2014 to 2021 he was Resident Scholar at the Anisfield School of Business, Ramapo College of New Jersey. From 2010 to 2014 he was the first Chief Economist of the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, with responsibilities for economic and revenue projections and analysis of state economic policy. He came to the Treasury after a long career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he played a major role in forecasting and policy advice and rose to the rank of Senior Vice-President. He has served in leadership positions in a number of professional organizations. In 2011 he received the William F. Butler Award from the New York Association for Business Economics, is a fellow of NABE and of the Money Marketeers of New York University, and has received several awards for articles published in Business Economics. In 2017 he delivered Ramapo College's Sebastian J. Raciti Memorial Lecture. He is a member of the panel for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters and of the Committee on Research in Income and Wealth. He has published papers in a range of areas, and is the author of Economic Indicators for Professionals: Putting the Statistics into Perspective. He received his bachelor's degree from Emory University, his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a National Association for Business Economics Certified Business EconomistTM.
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