Unemployment 8.6%

[Ban my account ffs!]

What I continue to enjoy is the fact that Texas reached their highest unemployment rate in September of 2011 and fell only 0.1% in October.  I thought Texas was supposed to be creating all sorts of jobs?  Why is their unemployment rate higher now than it was during the spring of '09?

In contrast, Minnesota's unemployment rate peaked at 8.5% (unadjusted) in May of 2009 and has fallen to 6.4% in October.  Texas was at 7.5% in May of 2009 and is at 8.4% as of October.

I guess I can't blame Jmfcst for being so pessimistic.  Things really aren't as good in Texas as they'd like you to think.  Must be all those liberals down there ruining the economy.  Or perhaps all the brown people... surely some liberal boogeyman is to blame!

[Ban my account ffs!]

I should point out that part of the reason Texas' rate has gone up is because the labor force has grown at a fast pace.  People have been moving there in high numbers seeking jobs.

The labor force growth rate has slowed sharply in the past year, however...

It's also a reason why states like Washington have stubbornly high rates of unemployment... they are attracting a lot of people from worse off areas of the nation.

That said, the labor force has grown in MN as well and we're one of only a couple states to have regained all the jobs it lost in the recession and are now posting record employment numbers... beating the previous high seen in mid 2006 here.