Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties | Hacker News Reader

Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties

articles.latimes.com

18 pointsstartuprules7 comments

Would have been nice if that article delivered on the promise made in the headline and actually listed the eight counties.

Fortunately, the list can be found on the site after more searching: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/11/business/la-fiw-cal-...

The data can also be calculated from the latest BLS statistics by county: http://www.bls.gov/lau/

The data is for January 2009 to February 2010.

From the LA times

* Colusa: 27.4% * Imperial: 27.3% * Merced: 21.7% * Plumas: 22.3% * San Benito: 21.1% * Sutter: 21% * Trinity: 25.8% * Yuba: 20.4%

These are all small rural counties. Bad for them, but the large metropolitan areas are better off.

My county (Stanislaus) is mostly rural but includes Modesto and Turlock (home of CSU Stanislaus). With a population of 1/2 a million we have unemployment rate of 18.9%. Directly north is San Joaquin County with Stockton as its largest city. Population of 700K and unemployment rate of 18.4%.

We aren't exactly giant urban centers but we're still a long way from tiny (sub 75k population) counties like Yuba, Colusa, San Benito, etc. I'm not sure we're a great deal better off...

I don't live in the states so I'm wondering if this stats could also imply that more people are becoming self employed/starting their own business?

The U.S. counts unemployment as "people who are currently looking for/want a job but do not have one". So anyone who is included in this number is not self-employed or running their own business.

The U.S. unemployment number does not count: 1. "Discouraged workers" - people who are no longer looking for a job because they figure they can't get one anyway. 2. Workers underemployed by time - people who work part-time but want a full-time job 3. Workers underemployed by skill - people who have qualifications and experience for a more difficult job than the one they are currently working, i.e. a chemist who stocks shelves at Wal-Mart because the local chemical plant shut down and there's nowhere else to go

So even with an unemployment number of 20% (considered disastrously high for most purposes), that doesn't necessarily mean the economy is sweetness and light for the other 80%, either.

The broader CA unemployment rate is relevant, but I can't see the special concern about unemployment in a few low-population CA counties.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com