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"To those of you who lost a job - to rephrase our current idiot in chief, you didn't lose that job by yourself - the government helped."

iamnothere 2012/08/18 11:25:33
Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July

By Christopher S. Rugaber Associated Press Friday, August 17, 2012

Read more: Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July - Washington Times


WASHINGTON (AP) — 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. That trend, if it continued, could pose a threat to President Barack Obama’s re-election bid in less than three months.

Nationwide, hiring improved in July after three months of tepid job gains. But the national unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent. Monthly job gains have averaged 150,000 this year. That’s barely enough to accommodate population growth. As a result, the unemployment rate is the same as when the year began.

Still, 31 states gained jobs in July, while 19 lost them. Unemployment rates can rise in a state even when more jobs are created if more people start looking for work. People who are out of work are counted as unemployed only if they’re looking for a job.

In the most closely contested states in the presidential race, unemployment has fallen over the past year. That could help Obama in his contest with GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

But it has started to tick up in recent months. In Nevada, the rate rose to 12 percent in July from 11.6 percent the previous month. That’s the highest rate in the nation, though it’s still much lower than a year ago, when it was 13.8 percent.

And in Michigan, the rate has increased to 9 percent, from 8.5 percent two months earlier.

Unemployment also increased in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

The rate was unchanged at 7.2 percent in Ohio, the only swing state that didn’t suffer an increase. Still, that rate is down sharply from 8.9 percent a year ago.

Most competitive states have unemployment rates below the national level, so even recent increases may not have a large impact on voter sentiment.

Iowa’s unemployment rate, for example, increased to 5.3 percent, still the sixth-lowest in the country. New Hampshire’s rose to 5.4 percent and Virginia’s increased to 5.9 percent, both far below the national rate.

Only four swing states have higher unemployment rates than the national figure: Nevada, Michigan, North Carolina at 9.6 percent, and Florida at 8.8 percent.

Some battleground states reported large job gains that could lead to lower unemployment rates in coming months. Michigan added 21,800 jobs, the second-largest increase in the nation, after California. Michigan’s gains were mostly in manufacturing and government. Virginia reported the third-largest increase, 21,300, mainly in education and health care.

Most other battleground states added small numbers of jobs.

Unemployment rates and total jobs data are derived from two separate surveys and aren’t always consistent each month. But they tend to even out over time.

Many political scientists say voter attitudes may be shaped more by national economic trends than local or statewide changes.

Most Americans probably read or hear more news about the national economy than they do about their local areas, some experts say. And they may not attribute regional economic changes to presidential policies.

Overall, the economy hasn’t been growing fast enough to generate more hiring. It expanded at an annual rate of only 1.5 percent in the April-June quarter, down from 2 percent in the first quarter and 4.1 percent in the final three months of last year.

Read more: Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July - Washington Times
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Top Opinion

  • ray 2012/08/18 12:28:52
    ray
    +6
    If you're living on charity and public housing you didn't do that alone .

    You didn't pass the law that won't let you sell stuff from home,or parks in public or
    private.
    You didn't create the laws that require a license to arrange flowers , paint fingernails , paint or repair houses or do any labor for pay on your own .
    You didn't create the laws that forbid you from growing vegetables or selling milk.
    You didn't create the mountains of regulations that cause business to collapse .
    You didn't create laws that demand the billions of dollars of meaningless records that rot in warehouses never read .
    You didn't create the laws that forbid you from experimenting , designing or dreaming of anything that Flys , Floats or drives without government permission .
    You didn't strangle the inventor and experimenter .
    You didn't create the Licenses , fines , fees , regulations, Mandates ,quotas that kill businesses .
    You didn't make you the hapless serf of the government ,
    Progressives did that , with Progressive regulation .
    Progressives know you're an Idiot and need to have every breath and deed taxed, fined regulated and controlled.

    When you are helpless and forced to beg for charity housing, food stamps , phones and medicine , Thank the Progressives for all the laws that mandated you can never care for yourself without them .

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Opinions

  • Don Leuty 2012/08/19 05:58:38
    Don Leuty
    +1
    "You didn't get their by yourself"bbBy golly, 0bama spoke the truth, only at the wrong meeting.
  • ☆astac☆ 2012/08/18 16:41:30
    ☆astac☆
    +2
    That is the goal. Forcing people to government dependency
  • Grabitz 2012/08/18 16:11:44
    Grabitz
    +2
    Hmm , never looked at it that way but if you did build it yourself then i suppose its safe to say you lost it yourself or is it the commie junk you all keep pushing on us ?
  • DuncanONeil 2012/08/18 15:39:10
    DuncanONeil
    +2
    Yeah! Go ahead, make me smile in the morning.
  • iamnothere DuncanO... 2012/08/18 15:42:16
    iamnothere
    I can see you smiling from here
  • ☆WillThompson☆ 2012/08/18 15:27:26
    ☆WillThompson☆
    +2
    This while downsizing the military and not having enough civilian job/resume training for veterans has also helped increase the unemployment rate. Thank you Mr. President
  • dave b 2012/08/18 14:28:33
    dave b
    +1
    Dont worry, the Dems say everything is fine....just like they did with Fannie Mae...
  • Risk 2012/08/18 12:58:22
    Risk
    +5
    Remember all the hype how he saved GM ? Well that story isn't over yet, their in trouble again, how much more money are the citizens of this country going to have to pay for Obama votes to keep his union members happy ? GM would have been much better off had we allowed them to go under, be bought out and ran by private business rather then using tax payer money (and giving a big share to union members ) which I highly doubt will ever be paid back now that their in trouble again.

    gm bailout cartoon
  • iamnothere Risk 2012/08/18 13:26:15
    iamnothere
    +4
    unfunded liabilities progressives never never enough.. of someone elses money in their world
  • Kat 2012/08/18 12:49:57
    Kat
    +2
    true, but the idiots will still vote for him.
  • iamnothere Kat 2012/08/18 13:26:44
    iamnothere
    +1
    they should be required to pay a 10 GM tax with each vote..
  • Kat iamnothere 2012/08/18 13:28:57
    Kat
    +1
    would be nice.
  • Diane Spraggs Yates 2012/08/18 12:40:50
    Diane Spraggs Yates
    +3
    NON profit business ---- Is what Obama wants and he has suceeded ---so out of business they go ---Well so does the jobs!!!!
  • KingdomNow 2012/08/18 12:38:20
    KingdomNow
    +5
    Trickle-up Poverty. It works.
  • ray 2012/08/18 12:28:52
    ray
    +6
    If you're living on charity and public housing you didn't do that alone .

    You didn't pass the law that won't let you sell stuff from home,or parks in public or
    private.
    You didn't create the laws that require a license to arrange flowers , paint fingernails , paint or repair houses or do any labor for pay on your own .
    You didn't create the laws that forbid you from growing vegetables or selling milk.
    You didn't create the mountains of regulations that cause business to collapse .
    You didn't create laws that demand the billions of dollars of meaningless records that rot in warehouses never read .
    You didn't create the laws that forbid you from experimenting , designing or dreaming of anything that Flys , Floats or drives without government permission .
    You didn't strangle the inventor and experimenter .
    You didn't create the Licenses , fines , fees , regulations, Mandates ,quotas that kill businesses .
    You didn't make you the hapless serf of the government ,
    Progressives did that , with Progressive regulation .
    Progressives know you're an Idiot and need to have every breath and deed taxed, fined regulated and controlled.

    When you are helpless and forced to beg for charity housing, food stamps , phones and medicine , Thank the Progressives for all the laws that mandated you can never care for yourself without them .
  • dave b ray 2012/08/18 14:26:42
  • EDWARD G 2012/08/18 12:14:19
    EDWARD G
    +4
    What an excellent assessment of our current situation. Good one!
  • santa6642 2012/08/18 12:13:23
    santa6642
    +4
    Great post and to the real point, obama is brain dead.
  • RJ~PWCM~JLA 2012/08/18 12:02:25
    RJ~PWCM~JLA
    +4
    Like the 3-year old he is deep down inside, 0bama accepts responsibility for nothing.

    But *everything* he sees is "mine, mine".
  • Kat RJ~PWCM... 2012/08/18 12:50:39
    Kat
    +2
    Exactly
  • Andrew 2012/08/18 11:45:46
    Andrew
    +5
    Government can never take credit for creating jobs. Those who invest and risk their wealth and those who diligently work to help their company to compete against foriegn competitors should get the credit. However, when the government implements onerous tax policies and restrictive and expensive regulations to which they themselves don't hold to, they can adversely affect the business and economic climate. This IS the case with the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party in general. They are crushing the business community and hurting the job market as a result. Can you blame companies for outsourcing overseas when their own government makes doing business here so oppressive?!
  • iamnothere Andrew 2012/08/18 11:50:27
    iamnothere
    +7
    taxes are always an inpediment to business.. Obama and the debtocraps are a giant wall that at this point have put the wall so high that business is retrenching rather than expanding.. talk about killing the golden goose
  • Andrew iamnothere 2012/08/18 11:52:31
    Andrew
    +5
    I agree 1000%!
  • Farnsworth 2012/08/18 11:43:38
    Farnsworth
    +6
    "to rephrase our current idiot in chief, you didn't lose that job by yourself - the government helped." We built that!
  • mrdog 2012/08/18 11:39:15
    mrdog
    +6
    Did the government help...that is funny.... hello BARRY./..bark
  • Informed Voter 2012/08/18 11:36:10
    Informed Voter
    +6
    I was wondering when someone would "rephrase" Obama's milquetoast speech to the true powerhouses of our economy; the small business owners who actually DID build it themselves!!

    Let's see how well Obama and the Democrats' War on Small Business plays out on November 6th.
  • mal 2012/08/18 11:31:02
    mal
    +5
    look out below as the chit is about to hit the fan.
  • Diane S... mal 2012/08/18 12:43:56
    Diane Spraggs Yates
    +3
    UK with his opinion again but we are going to vote Obama out of office and fix our mess !!!!!
  • mal Diane S... 2012/08/18 15:33:51
    mal
    +1
    hope so...
  • JMCC 2012/08/18 11:26:50
    JMCC
    +3
    Unfortunately it is a global trend...

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