More than half of U.S. states reported job losses in September, as hiring slowed, a new report finds.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor, hiring increased in only 20 states, leaving falling job stats in 27 states. Job numbers were seen to be treading water in the remaining three states.
Unemployment numbers were reportedly better with 37 states reporting higher employment rates and seven reporting a worsening rate. Six said their unemployment figures were static.
“Total U.S. hiring faltered in August and September as manufacturers struggled with the impact of the strong dollar and weak growth overseas,” ABC News reported. “At the same time, U.S. consumers have spent cautiously. Growth likely slowed sharply in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of about 1.3 percent, from a 3.9 percent pace in the second quarter.”
But others note that the unemployment figures used by the federal government are skewed. In fact, by the calculations at ZeroHedge, instead of the 5.1 percent unemployment rate reported in August, the real unemployment rate has been rising ever since the financial crisis and has been over 12 percent at least since 2012.
However, the labor participation rate is an even better mark of just how bad the jobs picture really is.
While the way the U.S. government calculates unemployment shows that the rate is low, the number of Americans who have given up in despair is higher than ever. The labor-force participation-rate, which shows the number of people having or looking for a job, remains at 62.6 percent. This is the worst rate seen since the 1970s—an era when far fewer women were in the labor force.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.