I hope your week has been fantastic so far. If you can give me a minute, here are two quick things to digest.
1) The Unemployment Scoop: New unemployment rates have been posted, so I wanted to give you the lowdown for national, state and local trends. Check out the graphs below and feel free to use them on your blog or in your newsletter. What are the rates at for December 2013? United States (6.7%), California (7.9%) and Sacramento County (7.7%). The jobless rates have continued to decline, which is good news on one hand because the economy seems to be on the rise. Yet on the other hand the labor participation rate is really low, which means less people are working and some are not moving back into the labor market. In short, since the labor force has seen a steep decline over the past five years in particular, it can make the job improvement numbers look a bit sexier than they really are. I mention this because it’s an important asterisk when looking at unemployment data. Yes, the economy has been improving and there are some positive things stirring locally, but we still need more jobs (and good ones).
2) Economic Report: If you haven’t seen the Sacramento Business Review that is put out by Sacramento State, it’s worth a read as it gives an economic forecast for 2014. I recommend you DOWNLOAD THE REPORT (pdf file), save it to your desktop and read at your leisure.
Question: Any thoughts or questions? Comments are welcome below.
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