Recovery Sputter Across Much of U.S.
There have been a lot of positive signs that the economy may be recovering. That’s good news for everyone. But across much of the country that recovery means little to every day people. This is especially true in the so-called Sun Belt across Nevada, Arizona, and California. A perfect example of this is in Nevada where technically the unemployment rate has gone down lately. But the reality is that many people are too discouraged to look for work or have left the state. In other words, the employment numbers alone don’t tell the whole truth. ABC News says the following:
In Riverside County, Calif., the nation’s 11th-most economically stressed county, unemployment dipped slightly in November. But that was due mainly to seasonal hiring by retailers — hiring that didn’t extend past the holidays.
Likewise, unemployment in counties in Arizona and Nevada, two states hammered by the recession, also dropped in November — but only because they lost jobseekers who moved away or gave up hope. Once people stop looking for jobs, they’re no longer counted as unemployed.
“Our rate isn’t going down because the economy is improving,” said Jered McDonald, an economist with the state of Nevada, which has lost about 2.5 percent of its work force since September. “It’s going down because people are either too discouraged to look for work or they’re actually leaving the state.”
The AP’s Economic Stress Index found that the average county’s score for November was 10.2. That was down only slightly from the worst reading during the recession: 10.3 in March 2009.
While East Tennessee hasn’t been hit quite as hard as the Sun Belt, plenty of people are hurting here as well. Bankruptcies continue to be historically high.
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