Michigan, Georgia Had Biggest Job Losses in September as Slowdown Spread

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Bob Willis

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Michigan and Georgia lost the most jobs in September, led by a slump in employment at government agencies and manufacturers as the slowdown spread through the U.S. economy.

The count in Michigan dropped by 28,300 employees last month as government agencies eliminated 18,000 jobs and factories cut payrolls by 6,500, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. A 7,500 drop in employment at public agencies was the biggest factor behind a 22,300 decline in Georgia's job total.

The report showed payrolls shrank in 41 states, including Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania -- among those most hotly contested in next month's presidential election. The loss of jobs underscored why Democrat Barack Obama has gained against Republican John McCain in polls over the last month.

The unemployment rate rose in 21 states, led by a 0.6 percentage-point gain in Tennessee. The jobless rate dropped in states such as Michigan and South Carolina where payroll losses mounted as thousands of workers gave up looking for employment and left the labor force. People not in the labor force aren't counted as unemployed.

The jobless rate in Michigan, which McCain effectively ceded to Obama after pulling out his campaign staff earlier this month, was 8.7 percent in September, the second-highest in the nation. Detroit-based General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., based in Dearborn, Michigan, continued firings as sales slumped.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a.Y...

[Faygo Kid]

1. Michigan is Home. It's beautful, and the lakes are wondrous.

I'm in Maryland now, but I'm heading home when I retire in a few years. Traverse City. No where else is even in the mix.

[Mari333]

2. ah yes, michigan

i live here and the only jobs are paying 6-8 dollars an hour. and those are almost gone. i told my oldest son to get into the health sector, so thats where hes working.
the only saving grace in michigan is that we are right next to the great lakes. in a coupla decades, i have a feeling we will get a pop boom because we live near the largest fresh water in the world.
as for the manufacturing jobs..i met a guy the other day who is working 2 shifts a day as a taxi driver..he was the head of the union in a holland mi manufacturing plant, and it sent its plant to china
he told me how, when the parts were first made at the chinese plant for this company, they were installed backwards, and had to be shipped back to holland where the union workers were told to fix them..then, they were all let go and the last of their plant was closed.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Take heart, my friend.

Michigan is Home.

I really believe it may be the most important state, as the most representative state. Don't ever give up on our state, and I say that as someone now living in Maryland, and working in DC.

Maryland is great. I love it.

But Michigan is Home.

[krkaufman]

4. "most representative state"

Oy. Let's not start down that path ourselves.

I lived in Michigan for a decade, after living in Illinois the first 20 years of my life, and no state can lay a claim to being the "most representative"... especially without quantifying what is represented.

[Lex1775]

5. Go West...

Poor Michigan. That is my home as well but I saw this happening back in the late '90's, so I split. I keep a copy of this Stan Rogers song posted on my wall though, it definitely reflects how I feel...

The Idiot

I often take these night shift walks when the foreman's not around.
I turn my back on the cooling stacks and make for open ground.
Far out beyond the tank farm fence where the gas flare makes no sound,
I forget the stink and I always think back to that Eastern town.

I remember back six years ago, this Western life I chose.
And every day, the news would say some factory's going to close.
Well, I could have stayed to take the Dole, but I'm not one of those.
I take nothing free, and that makes me an idiot, I suppose.

So I bid farewell to the Eastern town I never more will see;
But work I must so I eat this dust and breathe refinery.
Oh I miss the green and the woods and streams and I don't like cowboy clothes;
But I like being free and that makes me an idiot I suppose.

So come all you fine young fellows who've been beaten to the ground.
This western life's no paaradise, but it's better than lying down.
Oh, the streets aren't clean, and there's nothing green, and the hills are dirty brown,
But the government Dole will rot your soul back there in your home town.

So bid farewell to the Eastern town you never more will see.
There's self-respect and a steady cheque in this refinery.
You will miss the green and the woods and streams and the dust will fill your nose.
But you'll be free, and just like me, an idiot, I suppose.

[DemoTex]

6. Catch-22 .. in spades.

"The unemployment rate rose in 21 states, led by a 0.6 percentage-point gain in Tennessee. The jobless rate dropped in states such as Michigan and South Carolina where payroll losses mounted as thousands of workers gave up looking for employment and left the labor force. People not in the labor force aren't counted as unemployed."

My brother-in-law's unemployment benefits ended about two months ago. He is still frantically looking for a job here in upstate South Carolina. But since he no longer gets unemployment assistance, he drops out of the statistical base.

The "unemployment rate," like so many other economic measures in this country, is a cruel joke. I would guess the "real" unemployment rate in South Carolina is 15% or higher. Certainly no lower.

[onager]

11. My mom is in Upstate South Carolina

Along with the rest of my family (aunts, cousins, etc.).

Just yesterday I got an email about the economy in the Upstate.

--No jobs.
--Many with jobs still being laid off.
--Cars are being repossessed.
--Lots of home foreclosures.

This was a bizarre incident. The owner of a local small financial company was known for "paying good interest rates." I think he basically ran a small S&L and worked as a financial advisor.

His company just tanked, apparently due to either embezzlement or fraud or both. The collapse wiped out the savings of all his customers.

He was found curled into a fetal position in a shed, with some sort of nervous breakdown. The cops had to drag him out.

Where are you, BTW? I grew up in Oconee County.

[llmart]

7. When Chrysler merges with GM.....

things will get even worse as many thousands will be laid off due to duplication of jobs.

[blue_onyx]

8. Yes, which is why I hope this plan doesn't work

There has to be a way for them to fix things without losing so many jobs. I heard 30,000 more jobs could be lost and the closing of the 3rd (I think this is the right number) largest US headquarters could follow if the 2 companies merger. I find these losses unacceptable and I hope people fight this merger, if it happens.

[llmart]

13. I was just wondering yesterday.....

what they would do with the Auburn Hills mega building that Chrysler built. They could turn it into a mall but no one has any money to shop so that wouldn't be a good idea. Maybe a homeless shelter because Michigan is going to need a place to house all those displaced workers.

[Rancid Crabtree]

9. maybe the next president

will actually deliver on energy independence, or a reasonable facsimile, and factories can retool to make the product...or not...we've been promised energy independence since...Carter?...Nixon? Don't know how many in Michigan are looking forward to 3-4-5-600 dollar a month heating bills...it'd be great to see something more than empty rhetoric...something more than being left with a feeling of being jerked around and left to fend...can't say that I'm disappointed that "government agencies eliminated 18,000 jobs." Although some of those jobs might have been in law enforcement and that's a pity...we live in a cold world and it's getting colder.

[sarcasmo]

10. My friends and I here in Michigan truly believe the real unemployment number is 20 percent.

If you take the 8.9 percent on the books, the other five percent who have moved away after their unemployment ran out and they could no longer find a job. Then the other seven to ten percent who can't find a job. These are numbers close to Depression numbers.

[noonwitch]

12. It's bad, it's worse than in the 80s in Detroit

Even worse, meth has hit the city-at least, there is lots of graffiti to the effect, and CPS has had some referrals of babies with it in their systems. And the outlook for Chrysler and Ford is not good, there are going to be more job losses and possible takeovers and mergers.


Detroit needs something-is there any word about Sony's proposal to buy the old Ford Wixom plant and make it into a sound production facility? That would be a good start. The Book Cadillac (now Westin) hotel restoration has been completed and there are federal funds coming for a commuter train along Woodward, which should be good for both Detroit and the Oakland County suburbs along that stretch. Downtown is looking good, right now, and it is spreading to that stretch between Comerica Park and the DSO/Med Center/WSU. I heard a rumor that the Wings are going to get a new stadium in the area off Woodward just north of I-75, on the edge of the Cass Corridor. Joe Louis Arena would be converted into more convention space at Cobo, which is said to be needed.

But in the neighborhoods, things are bad, way bad.