MarketWatch reports:
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.7% in August as nonfarm payrolls fell by 216,000, the 20th consecutive monthly decline, the Labor Department estimated Friday. U.S. payrolls have dropped by 6.9 million to 131.2 million since the recession began in December 2007, the government data showed. Unemployment has increased by 7.4 million during the recession to 14.9 million. The 216,000 decline in payrolls was close to market expectations of a 233,000 drop, but the unemployment rate rose higher than the 9.5% level expected. The unemployment rate was 9.4% in July. It was the smallest decline in payrolls since August 2008.
Wall Street Journal gives a breakdown of job losses:
Employment last month in manufacturing fell 63,000.
Construction employment, meanwhile, was down 65,000.
Employment in the service sector -- the main source of U.S. jobs -- fell 80,000. Business and professional services companies shed 22,000 jobs.
Retail trade cut 10,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality employment shed 21,000.
Meanwhile, education and health services rose by 52,000.
The government shed 18,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate is the highest since June 1983 and even Obama administration officials expect it to rise to over 10 percent.
Reactions, via The Politico.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor issued a statement right after the report came out saying "Since President Obama signed his stimulus bill into law, nearly 2.5 million people have lost their jobs. In the eyes of the American people, that is not success."
Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price states "The Democrats sold their plan as a way to immediately pick up the economy. In fact, it is little more than a multi-year program to borrow and spend hundreds of billions of dollars for special interest giveaways."
Republican Minority Leader John Boehner asks "Where are the jobs?"
The 9.7 is the national average, but according to the United States Department of Labor, there are states where the numbers are lower and states where the numbers are significantly higher.
Some of the areas hardest hit include:
Alabama at 10.2%
California at 11.9%
Washington DC at 10.6%
Florida at 10.7%
Georgia at 10.3%
Illinois at 10.4%
Indiana at 10.6%
Kentucky at 11%
Michigan at 15%
Nevada at 12.5%
North Carolina at 11%
Ohio at 11.2%
Oregon at 11.9%
Puerto Rico 15.5%
Rhode Island at 12.7%
South Carolina at 11.8%
Tennessee at 10.7%
Those numbers were preliminary for July of 2009.
August updates aren't listed there as of yet.
According to the United States Department of Labor news release for August 21, 2009, 26 states reported over-the-month unemployment rate increases, 17 states and the District of Columbia registered rate decreases, and 7 states had no rate change.
Perhaps Obama should address these issues in his next talk with the people instead of his planned Obamacare pitch.
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