Global| Nov 20 2020State Labor Markets in October
|in:Viewpoints
Summary
State labor market data results in October were generally strong. 37 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from September to October, with Illinois’s 3.6 percentage-point drop being the largest. 8 [...]
State labor market data results in October were generally strong. 37 states had statistically significant drops in their unemployment rates from September to October, with Illinois’s 3.6 percentage-point drop being the largest. 8 states, though, saw statistically significant increases in unemployment, with Kentucky’s 1.8 percentage point increase the largest. Unemployment rates in October ranged from Nebraska’s 3.0 percent to Hawaii’s 14.3 percent (Nevada was the only other state with a rate higher than 10 percent). In general, unemployment rates are higher in the Southwest (though Louisiana, New Jersey, and New York all had October rates about 8 percent), and lower in the northern Plains (though Vermont, New Hampshire, Georgia, and Florida are eastern states with rates below 5 percent).
32 states had statistically significant increases in payrolls in October with California and Texas reporting gains greater than 100,000.September (California’s payroll gain of 145,500 was wildly outstripped by the report of an incredible gain of nearly 900,000 in resident employment). Alaska had the highest percentage change. 2 states saw statistically significant drops in jobs.
Looking at the industry composition, states generally saw continued gains in leisure and hospitality—which may now be in jeopardy as the virus ramps up—and reductions in government.
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.