Current unemployment rates in those states:
PA: 5,7%
OH: 4,8%
MI: 4,6%
WI: 4,1%
These are not high unemployment rates at all. Almost every European country would be jealous of those rates and all but PA are lower than for the US as a whole.
I don't think it has as much to do with the actual lack of employment, I believe it has more to do with that fact that we here in a place like Ohio are making money but the cost of living has far exceeded the cost of wages. So you have people working full-time still having to decide whether or not to pay their rent or their insurance. People having to decide whether they can buy groceries this week or wait another week because they need to get gas money.
It's expenses that are the problem.
