Job Watch -- Details From Last Week's Report; Alabama -- Unemployment Rate Drops But Total Employment Plunged (Not Often Have We Seen The Word "Plunge" In These Reports)

Updates

August 20, 2013: same story, as reported by The WSJ:

The labor market's progress was uneven across the U.S. in July, with many states and regions experiencing rising unemployment despite an overall decline across the country.

The unemployment rate rose in 28 states and the District of Columbia, fell in eight states and held steady in the remaining 14, the Labor Department said Monday.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate fell to 7.4% from June's 7.6%, partly because the number of employed people rose, though some also left the labor force. That was the lowest overall level since December 2008.

The unemployment rate grew the most in Alaska and Georgia, at 0.3 percentage point. Rates stand at 6.3% in Alaska and 8.8% in Georgia. Mississippi made the most progress on the labor front, with its rate declining 0.5 percentage point to 8.5%.

The numbers reflect frustratingly slow economic growth. Employers have been adding jobs but the pace hasn't been fast enough for the 11.5 million Americans who want a job but can't find one; in July, employers added 162,000 jobs, the lowest total since March.

No matter how you report it, the unemployment news is bad and shows no signs of improving under this administration.

Original Post

Reuters is reporting:

Nationally: unemployment rate drops to 7.4, according to Reuters:

Nationally, the jobless rate fell to 7.4 percent in July, the lowest level since December 2008, largely due to people giving up on the job hunt and dropping out of the work force.

This is the first time I have seen Reuters so blunt about the truth.

At the state level, the news was no better.

• jobless rates rose in 28 states month-over-month in the latest reporting period (July, 2013)
• jobless rates dropped in only eight states (of those, six states dropped 0.1%)
• one state, for example, from 9 percent to 8.5 percent, Mississippi (the largest drop)
• in most states where jobless rates fell, rates fell 0.1 percent (insignificant)

Reuters continiues:

In neighboring Alabama, where the rate dropped to 6.3 percent from 6.5 percent in June, the labor force also shrank. While manufacturers in the state gained jobs, total employment "plunged this month, dropping by 14,700," according to Alabama's labor department, with most losses in construction, educational and health services, leisure and government.

Conversely, Virginia pointed to an expanding labor force as the reason its jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent in July from 5.5 percent in June. At the same time, local governments' elimination of 4,500 jobs created a drag, with nonfarm employment increasing by 1,400 jobs last month, according to the Virginia employment department.

In Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Hawaii, Nevada and New Jersey, the jobless rates edged down 0.1 percent.

By state:

• highest rate: Nevada, 9.5%
• second: Illinois, 9.2%
• lowest rate: North Dakota, 3%