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I see Austin and Oklahoma City has an outstanding unemployment rate. I wonder what type of jobs are driving the economy?
It's interesting to see Nashville doing well and Memphis is total opposite. Same state, same work at will laws but polar opposite.
No surprise seeing Dallas and other Texas cities doing well.
St. Louis has always been middle of the road type area. Not surprising to see the ranking. However a lot is happening over the next year when looking at some of the companies expanding in the area like Express Scripts and Boeing.
Chicago is still in top 5 highest unemployment rates among the top 50 metros. You would never know it visiting or living there.
Some interesting observations.
Last edited by mjtinmemphis; 05-28-2014 at 06:25 PM..
Yep! Rather than classify those people as unemployed. They are classified as not in the labor force.
Looking for work = unemployed. Not looking for work (but would gladly accept a job offer) = not in the labor force = not counted in the unemployment numbers = a decrease in the number of the unemployed.
The number that includes discouraged workers is the U4 rate. The U3 rate is the official rate. The U4 rate has also come down quite a bit (from 10.6% to 6.7%) but is still high. Unfortunately, they don't break down metropolitan unemployment rates by U-level. They only give the official rate. Usually you can add about .5-1% onto the U3 rate and get the U4 rate for a given area, so a city like Atlanta probably has an unemployment rate around 7-7.5% when counting for the discouraged workers.
The high unemployment rate in Atlanta is why I am leaving soon. The economy here is so bleak. I'm in my mid 20s and everyone my age who I meet is either unemployed or working a job that will get them no where in life, like Starbucks, restaurants, convenient stores. The lucky ones have a job selling furniture. I FINALLY landed a job half a year after being here but it is headquartered in New York and is a work from home position. With my qualifications it should not have been this difficult to obtain employment. I want to move to a place where there is more opportunity for the young. I'm single and it seems like the only people with decent jobs in this city are over 40.
The high unemployment rate in Atlanta is why I am leaving soon. The economy here is so bleak. I'm in my mid 20s and everyone my age who I meet is either unemployed or working a job that will get them no where in life, like Starbucks, restaurants, convenient stores. The lucky ones have a job selling furniture. I FINALLY landed a job half a year after being here but it is headquartered in New York and is a work from home position. With my qualifications it should not have been this difficult to obtain employment. I want to move to a place where there is more opportunity for the young. I'm single and it seems like the only people with decent jobs in this city are over 40.
I'm a college-educated guy in my mid-30's and all my friends/associates/peers (this includes a couple 20-somethings) are gainfully employed in various types of professional fields. I know the job market here isn't the best (don't have to tell me that), but I don't think you're painting a very accurate picture here.
I see Austin and Oklahoma City has an outstanding unemployment rate. I wonder what type of jobs are driving the economy?
It's interesting to see Nashville doing well and Memphis is total opposite. Same state, same work at will laws but polar opposite.
No surprise seeing Dallas and other Texas cities doing well.
St. Louis has always been middle of the road type area. Not surprising to see the ranking. However a lot is happening over the next year when looking at some of the companies expanding in the area like Express Scripts and Boeing.
Chicago is still in top 5 highest unemployment rates among the top 50 metros. You would never know it visiting or living there.
Some interesting observations.
A lot of these metros with low unemployment are low income service jobs. They aren't the professional type jobs that pay a lot of money unless they're high profile metros like SF, D.C., or Boston.
As the unemployment rate goes down, more people get approved for SSI and SSD. I'm working on my hang nail disability claim. I'm being represented by the lawfirm Dewey Cheatem and Howe.
But most of them probably were. It is very common for young people today to send out 30 resumes, not hear back from any of them, and then just give up looking for a few months. I have done that several times over the course of the Great Recession.
Another phenomenon going on right now with older workers is many of them are using an illness that they might have to qualify for disability until they turn 65 and can go on social security. Boomers as a group are displaying considerably higher workforce participation rates as they age compared to other generations, but their bulk is dragging down the participation rate as they age.
It is interesting to note in that chart that workforce participation rates, compared to previous years, are markedly lower in those under 54, while it has actually increased in those 54-65. So the wheeze that the lower workforce participation rate is due to people retiring just isn't true.
I'm a college-educated guy in my mid-30's and all my friends/associates/peers (this includes a couple 20-somethings) are gainfully employed in various types of professional fields. I know the job market here isn't the best (don't have to tell me that), but I don't think you're painting a very accurate picture here.
Yeah, same here in Chicago, and of all my friends outside of the area, I barely know anybody who is actually unemployed who has worked in the professional field and has a degree as such. I know a few people who WERE unemployed in some other states but were hired recently
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