Friday’s headlines and statistics

Five of nearly 1,000 headlines on Google yesterday referencing our current unemployment:

The New York Times: Unemployment in California at 12%, Highest in Nearly 70 Years

Forbes.com: NC jobless rate remains near 11 percent in August

Associated Press: 42 states lose jobs in August, up from 29 in July

CNBC: State Unemployment Keeps Rising; Three Hit Record Highs

The Progressive Pulse: NC unemployment dips slightly…to a still alarming rate of 10.8%

And then I came across this blog posting by Mark Lacter at LAObserved.

Kind of a misery loves company thing when it comes to the August jobs picture. Three states had rates higher than California’s 12.2 percent: Rhode Island (12.8 percent), Nevada (13.2 percent), and the grand-daddy of them all, Michigan (15. 2 percent). Perhaps more revealing: 14 states have an unemployment rate in the double digits and 27 states posted increases. By the way, California’s 12.2 percent is a postwar high (that’s World War II for the youngins’). All these numbers, of course, are only starting points for assessing the true employment picture. Within portions of L.A. County, for instance, unemployment is way higher than the county’s 12.3 percent overall. The City of Commerce had the highest unemployment rate in the county, at 22 percent.

While the government and the Fed continue to report that things are getting better and that the economy is returning to normalcy, I again remind everyone that ours is a trickle-down economy.

Prosperity returns first to those on the mountaintop. The lower you are in the pecking order, the longer it takes to find any sense of normalcy.

Don’t take my word for it. Read accounts of the years following the Great Depression. Employment started to grow again in 1944-1945 – 15 years after the crash in 1929. It was a long haul for many.

Waiting and hoping that things will get better is not an action step. Seek out alternatives that leverage your skills, experience, and aptitudes.