Wow! Is This Accurate? -- Unemployment Rate Rose in 44 States Last Month

Remember the "hey, initial claims rose last week, but that's a sign of strengthening economy" from Reuters just a couple days ago --

This was Reuters actual quote: "Jobless claims trend shows job market slowly healing."

I thought that was the end of this week's reporting on the job situation, leaving us with a feel-good story that the economy was on a roll, and that the job market was "healing," albeit slowly.

Now this, which I haven't seen published in the mainstream media, yet: unemployment rates ROSE in 44 states in July. Can that be accurate? According to Reuters, things were looking so good -- talk about rose- colored glasses.

Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July, the most states to show a monthly increase in more than three years and a reflection of weak hiring nationwide.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates fell in only two states and were unchanged in four.

Unemployment rates rose in nine states that are considered battlegrounds in the presidential election.

I assume CNBC interviewed the labor secretary this morning when the report came out. If so,  I missed it. I don't mean I "missed" her explanation or the interview, it means I "didn't see" that interview.

Let's see. I wonder if the article tells us which two states share the good news? If it's there,  I couldn't find it. I think one of the states might be California based on this news story, but it's all very confusing to me. Unemployment can actually go up if more people enter the market than there are new jobs to accommodate them.

I think people re-enter the job market when a) the economy improves; and, b) when unemployment benefits run out. The majority of first-time job applicants, I assume, are in May and June, after high school and college graduation. In July we were well past that moment. And, then, of course, the automobile manufacturers were back up to "full" speed, but I would assume they just called back their already-hired workers.

All I know is that the unemployment rate rose in 44 states last month. It's probably a sign of a "healing" economy.