Detroit's Unemployment Rate Almost 29% in July 2009

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According to the State of Michigan, Detroit's Unemployment Rate for July 2009 topped 28.9%--According to the Detroit Free Press, it's the highest jobless rate since records began (in 1970).

In this great recession, the United States has the highest rate of unemployment (9.4%) that it's seen in years, and Michigan has the highest rate of any state in the Union (15%) and Detroit is seeing tougher times than most cities as it lacks a diversified economy and for years has suffered from a corrupt political system and poor educational standards.

Weekly Jobless Claims

This morning CNBC reports that the weekly jobless numbers came in at 570,000 for the week ended August 22 down 10,000 from the prior week (adjusted). This brings the 4 week moving average down to down 566,250 (down 4,750)

GDP for Q2-2009 came in at -1.0%

What States Have the Worst Unemployment?

The BLS has issued unemployment rates by state for July 2009 and for each state that is has the dubious distinction of being in the "Top-10" states of the worst unemployment rates, they have over 10%++ unemployment rates.

The States with the highest rates of unemployment are:

1. Michigan 15%
2. Rhode Island 12.7%
3. Nevada 12.5%
4. Oregon 11.9%
5. California 11.9%
6. South Carolina 11.8%
7. Ohio 11.2%
8. North Carolina 11%
9. Kentucky 11%
10. Florida 10.7%
11. Tennessee 10.7%

If you're one of the jobless in those states and asking yourself, "How many weeks of unemployment do I get?" you'll most likely find that you may be elligable for up to 79 weeks of UI benefits.

Weekly Jobless Claims Up Up Up

The weekly jobless claims for the week of August 15th rose to 574,000---That's up 15,000 from the prior week and higher than expected. This increased the 4 week moving average up 4,250 to 570,000 new jobless/week...

The report also showed that 6.24 million people are currently receiving unemployment insurance benefits.

Two other interesting tid-bits from the report include:

States reported 2,877,756 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Aug. 1, an increase of 92,384 from the prior week. There were 1,406,779 claimants in the comparable week in 2008. EUC weekly claims include both first and second tier activity.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Aug. 1 were in Puerto Rico (7.3 percent), Oregon (6.2), Pennsylvania (6.1), Michigan (5.9), Nevada (5.9), Wisconsin (5.5), California (5.3), Connecticut (5.3), New Jersey (5.3), North Carolina (5.1), and South Carolina (5.1).

Unemployment Crisis is Causing Record Levels of Foreclosure Filings

According to a story on the Washington Post, the rate of home foreclosures in 2009 is expected to crest over 1.8 million (vs. 1.4 million in 2008). The main cause for the sharp uptick in foreclosure filings is not the continuation of the sub-prime crisis---but actually the sharp increase in unemployment rates.

As more and more borrowers are significantly underwater on their homes and have living pay-check to paycheck a prolonged bout of unemployment can really drive them to stop paying the bank and walk away from their home.

More and More Unemployed Searching for COBRA Health Insurance

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As the ranks of jobless continue to grow month-over-month the number of searches. As you can see in the screen grab above---the Trend of Google Searches for COBRA in the US has really grown in the last 12 months in the US.

A recent study showed that in 2008, just around 20 - 25% of people eligable for COBRA opted to pay for it---This is probably because back then, the average COBRA health insurance payment sucked away about 80% of the average unemployment insurance check---That doesn't leave much money left over for rent or groceries.

Fortunately, for many Barack Obama and Congress recently passed legislation that provides a government subsidy to cover much of the COBRA health insurance premium payment. This makes it much more affordable---to the point where every recently unemployed family should consider looking into obtaining coverage.

How to file for Unemployment Insurance In California

The folks at California's EDD department have put together this 8 minute video clip to help you figure out what you need to do to file for UI benefits in Cali.

As of August, 2009---the maximum unemployment insurance benefit check in CA was $450/week (Plus another $25/week from the Obama UI increase).



The folks at EDD have developed a UI checklist---you'll need:

• your SSN, name(s), mailing address, phone #, Drivers License #
• employer name, address, and last day worked
• Gross Earnings over the last 18 months
• You must have worked for the last 18 months and be able, available and looking for work
• To file you can apply over the phone, online, via fax or snail-mail.
• To file for benefits immediately after losing your job

Hat-tip to unemploymentality for finding this video.

40,000 Metro Detroiters to Lose UI Benefits

According to the Detroit Free Press, over 40,000 Metro-Detroiters in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties are likely to lose their UI benefits by the end of 2009.

In the next 6 weeks, about 10,000 will lose their unemployment benefits and the other 30,000 will have coverage expire prior to 12/31. This will likely result in an increase in people heading to food-banks and seeking other types of government assistance.

As unemployment climbs--birth rate drops

News reports are now starting to pop up that show that during 2008 as the unemployment crept up to decade level highs, the number of births in the US dropped by ~70,000 children in 2008 vs. 2007.

The key reasons for this drop are speculated that fewer people are choosing to have children, and as jobs dried up, the number of hispanic immigrants has slowed---and hispanc immigrants on average have a higher number of children then the rest of the US population.

Unemployment Rate Drops in July

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July 2009 actually went down vs. the prior month... The drop was 0.1 percentage point from 9.5% to 9.4%... What is interesting, however, is that the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate did not change---It held steady at 9.7% in both June and July.

Click on Charts for a sharper Image.

Additionally, the seasonally adjusted U-6 Unemployment Rate for July also went down (16.3% in July vs. 16.5% in June). However, the non-seasonally adjusted figure stayed at16.% in both June and July. There were two other bits of good news in this week's jobs report.

#1 It was the smallest amount of job losses in about 1 year (~250,000)

#2 The average work week climbed up 0.1 hours compared to the prior period---so the people with jobs are getting a few more hours.

Unemployed College Graduate Sues Her College

Talk about a law suit that doesn't stand much of a chance.

The Guardian reports that Trina Thompson is suing Monroe College in the Bronx for $70,000 because the money she spent on obtaining her bachelor's degree hasn't landed her a job yet.

In my (non-expert) opinion, this court case is going to get thrown out of court faster than a fat man's fork at a smorgasbord.

The story also provided one interesting statistic:

According to a May survey by the National Association of Colleges and
Employers, just 20% of US college students from 2009 who applied for a job had
one when they graduated, down from 51% for the class of 2007.