Bureau of Labor Statistics: Missouri unemployment – January 2010

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for January 2010:

…The largest over-the-month decreases in employment occurred in Missouri and Ohio (-12,800 each), followed by Kentucky (-11,800), New Jersey (-9,100), Florida (-6,100), and Nevada (-5,700). Kentucky (-0.7 percent) experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decrease in employment, followed by Missouri and Nevada (-0.5 percent each), and Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, and Ohio (-0.3 percent each)….

The percentage unemployment for Missouri, compared to a year ago:

Missouri

January 2009 – 8.1%

January 2010 (preliminary) – 9.5%

Over-the-year rate change (preliminary) – 1.4%

[emphasis added]

The actual numbers (seasonally adjusted):

Missouri

Civilian labor force (Numbers in thousands)

January 2009 – 3,053.0

November 2009 – 3,008.5

December 2009 – 3,001.4

January 2010 (preliminary) – 2,994.5

Unemployed (Numbers in thousands)

January 2009 – 246.4

November 2009 – 290.2

December 2009 – 288.0

January 2010 (preliminary) – 283.0

Unemployed (Percent of labor force)

January 2009 – 8.1%

November 2009 – 9.6%

December 2009 – 9.6%

January 2010 (preliminary) – 9.5%

[emphasis added]

It could be worse, President McCain (r) and Governor Hulshof (r) could be on the Sunday tee-vee talk shows telling us, “We’re doing nothing because nothing is the best thing to do. All is well!”