Thread: 14 states hit record-low jobless rates as US economy enters 107th month of expansion

• Mark J. Perry@Mark_J_Perry

April 24, 2018 2:12 pm | AEIdeas

14 US states hit record-low jobless rates as US economy enters 107th month of expansion, second longest in US history

Carpe Diem

From The Hill:

Fourteen states have set new records for low unemployment rates in the last year, nearly a decade after the recession put millions of Americans out of work. The states hitting new unemployment lows run the ideological gamut, from conservative Texas to liberal California, suggesting a recovery stronger than any particular political persuasion. In March, eight states saw new record lows (see table above), including Hawaii (2.1%), Idaho (2.9%), Kentucky (4%), Maine (2.7%), Mississippi (4.5%), Oregon (4.1%) and Wisconsin (2.9%).

California also set a new record last month.

The Golden State’s unemployment rate stands at 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS). That’s the lowest rate recorded since BLS began keeping track of state-level unemployment figures in 1976, and it’s a third of the 12.3% unemployment rate California notched at the height of the recession in December 2010.

Colorado’s unemployment rate is just 2.6%, among the lowest in the nation, and a third of the 8.9% peak it hit in 2010. In Alabama, just 3.7% of workers are unemployed.

Arkansas reached a 3.6% unemployment rate last May, its lowest rate ever. North Dakota set its own record last year. Texas hit a 3.9% unemployment rate in November, after peaking at 8.3% during the height of the recession. Tennessee fell to the lowest unemployment rate it has ever measured, 3.3 percent, in January. Hawaii’s unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation. Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Wisconsin all have unemployment rates lower than 3%.

MP: Related important economic milestone — this month, April 2018, marks the 107th month of the current economic expansion that started in June 2009, which surpasses what was previously the second longest economic expansion in US history of 106 months from February 1961 to December 1969.

So assuming that the strong economic performance continues, as the record low jobless rates in 14 states suggest it will, we are now officially experiencing the second longest economic expansion in US history. If the current economic and job growth continue into next year, which seems pretty likely barring a major trade war or other major economic/political risks that would derail the expansion, May 2019 will be the 121st month of the current expansion and will break the previous record 120-month expansion from March 1991 to March 2001. But for now, the two important economic milestones outlined above of record jobless rates in more than one out of four US states and surpassing the previous 106 month record for the second longest uninterrupted period of economic expansion in US history are several good reason to celebrate the strength of the US economy!

Note: President Trump can certainly take some credit for the strong US economy, but he should also realize that his incessant claims that merchandise trade deficits sap the economic strength of America as countries like China steal all of our jobs are pretty hollow and without a strong basis in reality.

https://www.aei.org/publication/14-u...-of-expansion/

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