Global| Mar 16 2020State Labor Markets in January
|in:Viewpoints
Summary
In what now seems like ancient times, state labor market data was strong in January. Twelve states had statistically significant increases in payrolls over the month, led by a 35,700 gain in Florida and 33,500 in New York. Some other [...]
In what now seems like ancient times, state labor market data was strong in January. Twelve states had statistically significant increases in payrolls over the month, led by a 35,700 gain in Florida and 33,500 in New York. Some other Northeastern states, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey saw percentage point gains as comparable or larger than New York’s .3 percent (New Hampshire was up .7 percent) strongly suggesting that the remarkably mild winter boosted the numbers. Over the 12 months ending in January job growth was, as has been the case for some time, strongest in most of the belt of states from Washington to Texas, and generally weaker in states along the Mississippi River and its tributaries (along with Alaska and Vermont), with a number reporting statistically insignificant drops.
In the household survey, Alaska had yet again the highest unemployment rate, at 6%, while Mississippi stood at 5.5%, Louisiana at 5.3%, DC 5.2% and West Virginia. Among larger states, Pennsylvania’s 4.7% was highest. North Dakota’s 2.3% was the lowest in the nation, and Vermont and South Carolina reported 2.4% rates.
Once again, these are January numbers (they incorporate the annual benchmark and seasonal revisions). Like the soon to be released February figures, they are rather moot at this juncture.
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.