Unemployment in Hard Hit States: Michigan, Ohio & Oregon

On June 5, when the Bureau of Labor statistics released national unemployment and
jobs data for May, everyone was relieved that the loss of 345,000 jobs was not as severe
as in previous months. Many commentators suggested that the worst may be behind us,
and these numbers signal the beginning of a turnaround in the labor market. While their
optimism is certainly admirable (After all, who doesn’t want things to start getting
better?) our long experience at EPI tracking the trends and dynamics in the labor market
tell us that it is very premature.

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