County jobless rates drop
0 Comments | Maryland Gazette, Jul 28, 2010 | by ELISHA SAUERS
New county unemployment claims for June dropped nearly 59 percent compared to those filed exactly one year earlier.
Last month 965 residents from Anne Arundel County enrolled in unemployment insurance benefits – a significant departure from the 2,342 in June 2009.
But economists and work force experts say it’s hard to extract meaningful information about the current economy from jobless data, an indicator that tends to lag by about six months.
Local unemployment came in at 6.9 percent of the working population for June, which is actually about 6.4 percent when adjusted for seasonal factors. That would mark a downward move from May’s seasonally adjusted 6.6 percent.
Across the state, unemployment declined from 7.3 percent in May to 7.1 percent in June. Last month was also the first time in more than two years that the number of jobs on payroll was higher than in the same month a year earlier, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
Experts hazard that even when the unemployment numbers seem to suggest something optimistic, there can be another less positive explanation.
State officials, for example, said that although unemployment fell in June, that was largely a result of about 9,500 people dropping out of Maryland’s labor force.
Joseph E. Cater, president of Market Economics Inc. in Annapolis, said that the total number of unemployed residents with respect to the total labor force peaked in February. Yet a shrinking labor force leaves a lot of questions unanswered about where former workers are going. Cater said sometimes these unaccounted residents are referred to as “discouraged workers.”
“The labor force has been declining,” he said. “What that tells you is this is more than just cracking these little numbers. There are people who simply aren’t being counted because they’ve exhausted their claims.”
Many unemployment insurance enrollees were relieved Thursday to learn that Congress passed an extension for benefits through Nov. 30.
Kirkland Murray, president of Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp., said during the months of legislators stalling on the extension, many clients at the county’s one-stop career centers were nervous.
“It’s good news for a lot of people,” Murray said. “Some people were concerned about it because unemployment benefits are what they’re living on. That’s how they’re paying their bills right now.”
For Odenton resident Debra Mayne, a medical biller for nine years until she was laid off last month, unemployment benefits are allowing her to stay on top of her share of the apartment rent and bills.
Mayne moved from New York’s Hudson Valley to Anne Arundel County for a fresh start 10 years ago.
Now, left without health insurance, she’s most worried about what will happen if she gets sick or injured
insurance claims