Global| Jan 18 2019State Labor Markets in December
Summary
State labor markets were generally strong in December, though only eight were reported to have had statistically significant gains from November. The three largest increases (Texas, Florida, and Georgia) totaled more than 77,000, [...]
State labor markets were generally strong in December, though only eight were reported to have had statistically significant gains from November. The three largest increases (Texas, Florida, and Georgia) totaled more than 77,000, accounting for about 30 percent of the aggregate rise at the state level (this was 261,200, noticeably smaller than the national figure of 312,000). 38 other states, along with DC, reported statistically insignificant increases in jobs; 5 (Maine, New Jersey, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia) reported insignificant losses (in Vermont's case the loss was said to be 200—though that's from a small base of only a bit over 300,000 jobs).
As was the case last month, over the last 12-month period Alaska and Vermont were the only states reported job losses (they total 600 in the two states). Only 5 states and DC saw job growth below 1.1%; this compares to November's count of 10 (plus DC) in this group. 5 states—all in the West had job growth above 3%, led by Nevada's 3.9%. The November count of high growth states over 12 months had been 5. The upshot is that 40 states have seen job gains between 1.1% and 3.0% over the last year, suggesting that the general theme of convergence in growth still holds. The range of unemployment rates remains unchanged at 2.4% to 6.3%, with Alaska remaining on top and Iowa still at the bottom (Hawaii edged up to 2.5%). West Virginia and DC are the other localities with unemployment rates above 5% (Louisiana went down to 4.9%). There are a total of 10 states with unemployment rates under 3% and, again, Virginia, is the only large state in this group.
Puerto Rico reported a 2,400 gain in nonfarm payroll employment, reversing most of November's loss. The unemployment rate on the island moved up to 8.3%, even as the labor force continued to fall. Over the past year, the job count in Puerto Rice has moved up by 6,700, even though government employment was down 3,900. Despite these gains, the number of private-sector jobs remains below the pre-Maria level, and more than 100,000 under the 2006 peak.
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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