Fri
May 17 2013
10:41 am
JOBS JOBS JOBS!
By: R. Neal

While our TNGOP supermajority state legislature continued their laser-like focus on punishing working families and poor people and our governor fretted over what tie to wear and which pen to use to gut prevailing wage and Workers Comp laws, the state's unemployment rate increased from 7.8% to 8% for April 2013.

Tennessee was one of only three states to report an increase. The other two were Louisiana (6.2% to 6.5%) and North Dakota (3.2% to 3.3%).

Meanwhile, the unemployment rates in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia all went down.

The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 7.5%.

Source

Topics:
bizgrrl's picture

Yikes! Wonder why TN

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 10:47am.

Yikes! Wonder why TN unemployment went up while so many other Southern states unemployment went down. Tourism down in TN?

R. Neal's picture

Layoffs in the truck stop

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 10:48am.

Layoffs in the truck stop industry?

Brian A.'s picture

Or our fast food jobs of the

Submitted by Brian A. on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 1:42pm.
(in reply to R. Neal)

Or our fast food jobs of the future.

Elwood Aspermonte's picture

Tennessee's real numbers might be coming out now

Submitted by Elwood Aspermonte (not verified) on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 12:05pm.

Walk through any Walmart during the week between the hours of 11:00 till noon and it's amazing the number of able bodies (they look able) people wandering through the SuperCenters obviously not working, just killing time, maybe eating that Subway sandwitch there at the front of the store.

The numbers provided in various counties in Tennessee don't mirror the number of people just milling around the communites with no job, no realistic prospects of a job, and not a lot of meaningful employment around there anyway.

George's picture

I've thought about this a

Submitted by George (not verified) on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 12:09pm.

I've thought about this a lot. Then, I thought about how many people might work different hours, or different days, or might be on vacation, or maybe work from home. I can't believe how many people I run into these days who work from home -- a lot more than I thought.

Average Guy's picture

I've wondered myself about

Submitted by Average Guy on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 12:17pm.
(in reply to George)

I've wondered myself about how the number is derived.

Is it solely tax records or are other varibles factored to get the number?

George's picture

I'm pretty sure unemployment

Submitted by George (not verified) on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 12:56pm.
(in reply to Average Guy)

I'm pretty sure unemployment rate is determined by telephone surveys.

I was just saying that there are way more people than I previously thought who aren't working at the same time I am, so they must be working when I'm not.

Average Guy's picture

I hope not

Submitted by Average Guy on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 1:10pm.
(in reply to George)

Phone surveys that rely on land lines are reflective of nothing.

jbr's picture

"Business Friendly"

Submitted by jbr on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 12:41pm.

"Business Friendly" techniques

R. Neal's picture

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Submitted by R. Neal on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 1:17pm.

Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology and technical notes...

According to that, they use the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey as their starting point.

Current Population Survey Design and Methodology...

Average Guy's picture

Phone surveys are in there,

Submitted by Average Guy on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 1:36pm.

Phone surveys are in there, with a whole bunch of other metrics.

Still, even the “work from home” notion seems a bit dated.

Work from home used to mean you were doing the same type computer work at home you were doing on your computer at work. Now, for many, work from home means “work from phone”. Email, browsing, faxing, credit processing, memo (texting) and much more can be done from one’s palm with no land line tether.

Not to say the numbers are unreliable, but I think George has a valid point.

George's picture

I know quite a few people who

Submitted by George (not verified) on Fri, 2013/05/17 - 1:40pm.

I know quite a few people who have home-based jobs. Those jobs usually require a lot of travel, so the company allows you to live anywhere in your coverage area and you get to work at home when you're not travelling.

I was offered a job like this once. I turned it down (got a better elsewhere, and it just happened to be for an office-based job).

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