Global| Dec 18 2020State Labor Markets in November
Summary
State labor market data results in November were mixed, with none showing remarkable strength and some showing substantive slippage. 25 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from October to November, a [...]
State labor market data results in November were mixed, with none showing remarkable strength and some showing substantive slippage. 25 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from October to November, a noticeably smaller number than has recently been the case. Hawaii did see its rate falling 4.1 percentage points, but the November level was 10.1 percent. 7 states had significant increases in their unemployment rates. New Jersey experienced the largest increase—2.2 percentage points—to a level of 10.2 percent (the marked rise in New Jersey's unemployment rate in October and November can be attributed to the state's labor force rebounding after a very sharp drop in September). On the positive side, 3 states—Nebraska, Vermont, and New Hampshire reported unemployment rates under 4 percent. Unemployment rates were generally low in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions; however, 3 very large states (California, Texas, and New York) had rates above 8 percent (Connecticut's rate was 8.2 percent—clearly, this, along with the New York and New Jersey figures, shows that the New York metro area is experiencing unusually high unemployment).
Only 17 states had statistically significant increases in payrolls in November; the three highest gains—Texas's 61,000, California's 57,100, and New York's 29,500—were unimpressive compared to the summer surge. Hawaii had the largest percentage gain (2.6); no other state was above 1.0. 3 states report statistically significant drops in payrolls; Illinois was down by 20,000 and Iowa lost .7 percent of its jobs.
Industry results were mixed. Most states shed government jobs, and clearly the surge in leisure and hospitality has faded (with Hawaii a noticeably exception over the last two months; however, leisure and hospitality employment in November in Hawaii was still about 40 percent lower than is year-earlier level).
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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