Job Losses Up in 44 States

By JEANNINE AVERSA

posted: 183 DAYS 1 HOUR AGO

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WASHINGTON (May 26) - All but six states lost jobs in April and double-digit unemployment persisted in every corner of the country as companies squeezed by the recession slashed payrolls.

For the fifth straight month, California led the nation in net job losses, with 63,700 jobs disappearing in April. Among the handful of winners were Arkansas, Montana and Florida — a state battered by the housing collapse and badly in need of good news.

Michigan, the heart of the teetering American auto industry, posted the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 12.9 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. Oregon came in at 12 percent, South Carolina at 11.5 percent and Rhode Island at 11.1 percent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said he expects the economy to begin growing again later this year, but the recovery is expected to be slow, with companies in no rush to hire. The Fed projects unemployment will stay high well into 2011.

After California, Texas cut the second-most jobs of any state, with 39,500. Michigan lost 38,400 and Ohio 25,200.

Layoffs in manufacturing, construction and retail are a common theme in states with high unemployment. States like South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island have had trouble luring new types of companies to cushion the loss of manufacturing jobs and training laid-off factory workers for other kinds of employment.

Despite the tens of thousands of lost jobs, California's jobless rate actually fell, to 11 percent from 11.2 percent in March. It was still the fifth-highest rate in the country.

Todd Laney, 48, of Sacramento, Calif., was laid off early last year after 19 years working in the parts department of an auto dealership. He has applied for more than 250 jobs and is still looking.

"I never thought that I would see General Motors go from hero to zero in my lifetime," he said. "I never thought that we would see Chrysler facing bankruptcy. I'm trying anything I can get my hands on because I know that I've got knowledge and skills in the automotive industry that are transferrable."

Saddled with a $21.3 billion budget deficit, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said thousands of state employees must be laid off and billions must be slashed from the budget.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers this week he does not have authority to use the $700 billion bailout fund to help state and local governments. Geithner said he was working with Congress to make it easier for governments to borrow.

He did not rule out somehow using federal tax helping California or other states with federal taxpayer money.

"That's not putting on the table or taking off the table any specific thing like that," he said. "But I just want you to know that there are things that we've had to do I would never have contemplated doing."

The nation has lost 5.7 million jobs since the recession, the longest since World War II, began in December 2007. The nationwide unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, the highest in a quarter-century.

There are some bright spots: Arkansas and Montana tied for the biggest payroll gains in April, adding 1,500 jobs apiece. Florida eked out an increase of 1,300 jobs.

Rebecca Rust, an economist for the Agency for Workforce Innovation in Tallahassee, Fla., said the increase is mostly because nursing homes and residential care facilities have added jobs.

She noted that the monthly gain is relatively small and that Florida has lost 380,300 jobs since April 2008, second only to California.

North Dakota again registered the nation's lowest unemployment rate: 4 percent. It was followed by Nebraska's 4.4 percent jobless rate, Wyoming's 4.5 percent and South Dakota's 4.8 percent. Ken Mayland, an economist at ClearView Economics, said he thinks those states are benefiting from growth in agriculture-related businesses.

Nearly 6.7 million people nationwide are drawing state unemployment insurance, the highest on records dating to 1967. The crush has exhausted unemployment funds in California, New York and elsewhere, forcing them to turn to the federal government.

Yahoo Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., plans to lay off nearly 700 workers in its third round of job cuts in a little over a year. Other California-based employers, including Google Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp., announced hundreds of layoffs each in March.

And one in every 138 California households received a foreclosure filing last month, according to RealtyTrac Inc. That was the third-highest rate in the country, behind Florida and Nevada.

—

Associated Press Writers Don Thompson in Sacramento, Calif., and Bill Kaczor in Tallahassee, Fla. contributed to this report.

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2009-05-26 15:06:59