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.