The Decline: The Geography of a Recession

[LAGC]

This is a pretty amazing unemployment map that shows how bad things have gotten since January 2007:

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

It's interesting to see how much better the mid-Western states seem to be faring compared to the rest of the country.

[HughMoran]

1. Cool chart

I'd describe the "better" area as the "west" more than the midwest. Sadly, it'll be a long time before unemployment is anything less than "awful". If anybody is looking for some "positive" news, my profession (engineering) has had it's unemployment rate drop from 5.9% to 4.7% in the most recent measure. This recession was the first time tech-pros were hit hard (on my 3rd job this year), and the rate peaked above 7% which I think may have been the worst number ever (or at least in a very long time.) Also, as a leading indicator, we're seeing some of the biggest orders ever at our little company - so we may be turning the corner (crosses fingers.)

[avaistheone1]

2. Helpful chart.

I want to spend some time checking this chart out.

[JNelson6563]

3. That is really remarkable!

Thanks for posting that!

[Lochloosa]

4. Bookmarked. Thanks.

[chill_wind]

5. Incredible to watch. K & R.

[justabob]

6. that is amazing

thanks for sharing it.

[Greyhound]

7. See, we really are a purple nation! n/t

:rofl:

[Mixopterus]

8. It's like watching a really complex example of cascade failure

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Interesting seeing black next to yellow areas...folks need to migrate

[Bigmack]

14. Yellow areas = corn or ranchland. No jobs. nt

[Odin2005]

10. The colors remind me of spreading necrosis of body parts.

:scared:

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Amazing how many counties around me were purple to start with.

7% unemployment being "normal" in a good year.
People got used to being poor about 5 generations ago, it never changed.

Now, today, we all know the "official" un-employment rate is at least half of the real rate.
and the map shows the shocking picture of even the "official" rate.

kick

[FarCenter]

12. The border counties in MidWest and South states have higher unemployment in 9/09

Are there a lot of people collecting unemployment in one state and working across the border?

That allegedly happens a lot in the Mexican border counties.

[XemaSab]

13. Interesting how the West Coast started out bad and got worse

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