Which Direction Will The Unemployment Rate In The U.S. Go?

While the US is still enjoying a measure of economic success, some focus is being turned to the unemployment rate in the country. The concern in most people’s mind is whether unemployment will increase or continue to decrease in the face of a growing economy.

As job prospects are on the increase along with the successful performance of the US economy during 2014 and the greater part of 2015, so far the emphasis is now on the unemployment rate that is facing the country. With a seven-year unemployment low still riding, the feds are sending a message that job scarceness can still further decrease.

Last Wednesday, the feds held a meeting to discuss unemployment and the performance of the US economy. After the meeting, they announced their expectations of a 5 percent to 5.2 percent increase that might take place.

Some states in the US are experiencing jobless rate decrease and this trend might continue to grow as long as the US economy continues to pick up. In the Midland area of Texas, January jobless rate was at 2.6 percent, which tops the list of lowest jobless rates among all the states in the country so far. Lincoln, Nebraska followed at 2.8 percent and Ames in Iowa took the third spot with 2.9 percent. The oil industry in Texas has helped job prospecting become less strenuous and to date workers are finding job opportunities in the market that they can depend on to earn a living.

The US unemployment rate in 2014 was 7 percent. However, since the start of 2015, US unemployment rate went down to 6.1 percent.

Meanwhile, joblessness rate continues to plague residents in Yuma, and El Centro in California. Yuma’s unemployment rate was riding at 19.8 percent and El Centro stood at 21.3 percent. Decatur became the top place to see the largest drop in jobless rate during a one-year period. The jobless rate in Decatur went down 3.4 percent points. While Decatur was seeing a jobless rate plunge, Alexandra, LA was experiencing the largest increase in jobless rate, which was 7.4 percent or a positive 1.4 percentage point.

As the concern whether employment in the US will grow or decrease continues, the feds on the other hand are saying that inflation will take off at a growth of 5.5 percent. However, so far the country’s unemployment rate is standing at the same 5.5 percent.
Still, inflation is staying low and this might not change soon. As long as inflation continues to fall, the unemployment rate will improve across the US.

As unemployment declines in the US, benefits that jobless citizens depend on begin to fall. The Economic Policy Institute reports that the Unemployment Insurance programs are paying out less money to jobless persons. Benefits that the programs dish out were standing at 23.1 percent in December of 2014.

While the Unemployment Insurance programs make it their job to cover short-term unemployment, long-term unemployment is still posing a dangerous threat to economic growth in the country. So far, long-term unemployment is still moving up in some states and is showing no signs of slowing down. As the concern for a low unemployment rate continues to be a major concern for some investors and financial analysts, the emphasis must be placed on creating sustainable long-term job placements for citizens living in the US.