Nevada Unemployment Rate Rises -- Not a Bakken Story

I find this story incredible on so many levels.  (To keep my rambling points straight I will number them one, two, three, and four in parentheses.)

The headline: Nevada Jobless Rate Rises to 14.3 Percent

What was the rate before it rose to 14.3 percent? .... drum roll ... drum roll.. 14.2 percent.

(First) 0.1 percent can't possibly be reproducible and it certainly isn't statistically significant. But the headline certainly suggests this is news.

(Second) But as usual, the mainstream media can find a silver lining in any unemployment report:

In addition to staying below their highs, the newest figures reveal other hints that Nevada's labor market has stopped its free fall.

Wow, that's a leap of faith. It's probably true, but not much of a silver lining when a state's unemployment rate is highest in the nation and fifty percent higher than the national average.

"The stabilizing unemployment rate indicates that the worst of the recession is over," a state spokesman said. "However, the unemployment rate will likely remain elevated well into 2011 before declining slowly over a number of years." 

Declining slowly over a number of years. Wow. 

(Three) For some sectors, however, the free fall has not leveled off:

The leisure and hospitality industry cut 2,900 positions, while the construction industry lost 1,500 positions. Construction employment fell below 60,000 jobs in Nevada for the first time since February 1995. Employment in the manufacturing industry continues to contract, falling by 400 to 37,800. Since peaking in September 2006, manufacturing employment has fallen by 13,500, or 26.3 percent.

It didn't help when corporations were chastised by the President of the United States for holding conferences in Las Vegas. 

When I read the contraction numbers above, I have to ask: is the free fall in unemployment over? A job lost has a multiplier effect. So we will see next month. 

(Four) What is newsworthy is that Nevada re-elected their senior senator one month ago. Now that's incredible.  Even North Dakotans with their strong state economy did not send back their senior senator nor their lone representative.

With regard to full report on joblessness: payrolls drop in 28 states (a majority) and joblessness up in 21 states. We're not out of this yet, not even close.

• North Carolina led the nation with 12,500 job cuts: then Massachusetts (8,600); Ohio (7,800)
• Joblessness increased most in Georgia and Idaho
• Nevada faced highest rate (14.3 percent, see above); California (12.4); Michigan (12.4)
• Michigan's unemployment dropped by 0.4 percent, pushing it to lowest lowest level since Feb 2009
• Consistent with report that unemployment increased first time since August
• Unemployment was lowest in North Dakota, unchanged at 3.8 percent

Nope, we're not out of this yet, not by a long shot.

President Obama met with 24 CEOs this past week to discuss joblessness; not one CEO from a major oil company.