Michigan Unemployment

Rising unemployment and foreclosure rates, particularly in the South Atlantic and Mountain states, has raised the economic difficulties of the nation in November, according to a monthly anlysis of The Associated Press.

A month after the economic stress has reached the age of 18 months at the national level low, it increased in three quarters of 3141 counties in PA andanlyzed in 39 states. Unemployment and foreclosures rose slightly more than two-thirds of the States. Bankruptcies rose in half the states.

Florida, in particular, is struggling. His recovery has lagged behind those of other states that have also been ravaged by the housing crisis, such as Arizona and California, because Florida’s economy is less diversified.

And Colorado, Idaho and other mountain states have suffered a loss of drilling, tourism and construction jobs.

The AP index to calculate a score from 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates. A higher score signals more stress. Under a rule of thumb, a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.

The average score of the county in November was 10.3, compared to 9.9 in October. It was the highest reading since August of 10.3 points.

Nearly 40 percent of counties were considered stressed, up from just over a third in October.

Nationally, the unemployment rate increased slightly to 9.8 percent in November from 9.7 percent in October. In December, the rate rose to 9.4 percent. For all of 2010, the economy added about 1.1 million jobs – many fewer than are normally established after a severe recession.

Many economists expect twice as many net new jobs being created this year. But most think the unemployment rate will remain around 9 per cent by year-end. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week it could take up to five years of unemployment to fall to historically normal rate of about 6 percent.

States that have been particularly hard hit during the bursting of the housing bubble – California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada – will probably continue to suffer. One important reason is the loss of construction jobs that are not coming back.

“We’re not looking for a high rise,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York.

Nevada has been made with the stress score highest monthly because it has surpassed Michigan in March 2008. The AP index dates to October 2007. In November, the economic pain has worsened in Nevada, which posted a score of 21.96.

Nevada was followed by Florida (17.14) and California (16.42). Among the five most-stressed states, Michigan (14.83) and Arizona (14.6) saw some easing of economic distress.

North Dakota (4.05) was again the least-stressed state in November. It was followed by the South Dakota (5.17), Nebraska (5.27), Vermont (6.29) and New Hampshire (7.11). But all the healthiest states except Nebraska has suffered more stress from October to November.

Over the last three months, Florida has experienced the largest increase in economic pain. He passed the California and Michigan to become the second most stressed by the State based on the index of the PA. Florida has also experienced the third largest increase in stress over the last 12 months, exceeded only by the hill states of Colorado and Utah.

“This is the housing crisis, combined with a lack of manufacturing and other industries,” David Denslow, an economist at the University of Florida, said disorder of the state.

Colorado, Idaho and other mountain states into recession later than most of the country has once mining jobs evaporated, construction, tourism has declined and markets for second homes is long fire.

“Late in, out late,” said Richard Wobbekind, an economist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “We have not seen the van yet.”

Fewer people are migrating to Idaho, for example, leads to a decrease of more than 21,000 construction jobs, said Bob Fick, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Labor. Other industries such as electronics manufacturing, has also suffered losses from the recession. Their problems have contributed to a decline of almost 6 percent in Idaho work force employed in the past three years.

“In 2007, when everything was starting to look like there was a recession, we still buy houses here Californians, like it was nobody’s business,” says Fick. “The bottom does not really fall later. ”

The counties with high concentrations of workers in the hotel and catering and real estate experienced the greatest increase in stress in November. Among those with at least 25,000 inhabitants, Imperial County, California (33.15), less successful. Following were Yuma County, Arizona (26.91), Lyon County, Nevada (26.75), Nye County, Nevada (25.21) and Yuba County, California (24.18).

In contrast, stress decreased the most in counties where many workers in wholesale trade, transportation, financial services, insurance and employment support. Ward County, ND (3.29) was considered the healthiest in November. It was followed by Sioux County, Iowa (3.71), Buffalo County, Nebraska (3.74), Brown County, SD (3.96), and the County of Brookings, SD (3.98).

Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida Crutsinger in Washington.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.