Jobs Situation in the Midwest 2011 vs 2010

From the BLS: Among metropolitan areas in the 12 states of the Midwest region, the largest over-the-year employment increases from September 2010 to September 2011 occurred in Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Illinois (+21,100), followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (+20,100), and Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin, (+17,400).

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Among metropolitan areas in the Midwest, 28 reported over-the-year decreases in nonfarm payroll employment, 62 reported increases, and 3 had no change in September 2011.
Sandusky, Ohio, reported an over-the-year percentage gain in employment of 7.0 percent (one of the nation's largest). St. Joseph, Missouri, recorded the largest percentage decrease in employment among metropolitan areas in the Midwest (−4.0 percent).
Among large metropolitan areas (metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2010), two in the Midwest each had large over-the-year percentage decreases in employment: Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Indianapolis-Carmel, Indiana (−0.3 percent each).
Bismarck, North Dakota, recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the Midwest (2.5 percent), followed by Fargo, North Dakota (3.3 percent), and Lincoln, Nebraska (3.5 percent).

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Ames, Dubuque, and Iowa City (all in Iowa), Mankato-North Mankato, and Rochester (both in Minnesota), Omaha-Council Bluffs (Nebraska), Grand Forks (North Dakota), and Rapid City, and Sioux Falls (both in South Dakota) all recorded unemployment rates between 4.0 and 5.0 percent in September.
September's highest unemployment rates in Midwest metropolitan areas were recorded in Rockford, Illinois (13.4 percent), Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan (11.7 percent), and Kankakee-Bradley, Illinois (11.2 percent).

The Midwest BLS Information Office in Chicago has links to more data for the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin (which are all included in the Midwest region). The Mountain-Plains BLS Information Office in Kansas City services the states of Kansas and Missouri (which are included in the Midwest region), as well as Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.

13 States won't get Tier 3 unemployment benefits

According to the San Francisco Gate there are some states that have laws on the books that prevent them from being able to give the jobless an additional 20 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits that were included in the Obama stimulus package.

According to the story:

The states are Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Tennessee.

Missouri's unemployment insurance fund runs out of money

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the state of Missouri has had to borrow $15 million from the federal government as its unemployment insurance fund ran dry earlier this week.

The state is expected to borrow $260 million from the feds to cover their costs through May. If you're currently collecting unemployment insurance from Missouri, don't worry the checks will still be coming.

Caterpillar to layoff 20,000 | Sprint to layoff 8,000

Caterpillar will be laying off ~20,000 employees according to a press release issued today. The Illinois based company is predicting that 2009 will be the toughest year since the end of WWII.



Sprint-Nextel today announced that they will be laying off 8,000 workers. The Missouri based company hopes to save over $1 billion in costs.

Tough Times in St. Louis

According to STLtoday.com the Carpenters Union representing 22,000 workers has opened up a food bank to help out unemployed Carpenters Union members.

Maximum Unemployment Insurance Benefit by State

Today Business Week published a slide show that shows the Maximum Unemployment Insurance Benefit by state. I decided to show the "Top-10" and "Bottom-10" states, according to Business Week.

*Note---Some States had a range for "Maximum Benefits", but most had a single value. Massachusetts for example was shown as "$600 - $900/week"---I have plotted, the high end of the range. I believe that some states may pay more to people with families than to single workers with no dependents.