Politics & Government
Unemployment Numbers Dip in America: How is Oak Park Faring?
New national report shows 80,000 jobs added in October.
The addition of 80,000 jobs has led to a small dip in the national unemployment rate, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here's the official press release.
But that's no cause for celebration. As noted in the New York Times this morning: "...a gain of 80,000 jobs is barely worth celebrating. That was just about enough to keep up with population growth, so it did not significantly reduce the backlog of 14 million unemployed workers."
October's gains are the fewest in four months, and the numbers are below what many economists expected, according to the Washington Post.
Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Add to that the looming debt crisis in Europe, which a Huffington Post report said could "take a bite out of the U.S. economy," and pending action by the Congressional bi-partisan "Supercommittee," charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade by Nov. 23 (via PBS NewsHour) — and the economic outlook remains shaky.
Here in Oak Park, unemployment numbers in 2011 are improving. But that's after 10-year highs of 7.2 percent unemployment in 2009 and 2010. Right now, the unemployment rate for all of 2011 is hovering at 6.8 percent and trending downward. Will it continue?
Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Below is 10 years worth of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the month-by-month unemployment rate in Oak Park.
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual 2001 3.5 3.5 3.8 3.8 3.9 4.5 4.3 4.5 4.4 4.4 4.6 4.7 4.2 2002 5.0 4.7 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.7 5.8 5.3 4.9 5.1 5.1 4.6 5.1 2003 4.8 4.6 4.8 4.7 5.1 5.9 5.7 5.4 5.3 4.8 4.7 4.0 5.0 2004 4.3 4.0 4.2 4.5 4.7 5.1 5.0 4.7 4.7 4.5 4.5 4.0 4.5 2005 4.0 4.1 3.9 4.4 4.4 4.8 4.7 4.2 4.3 3.8 3.8 3.3 4.1 2006 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.2 3.2 3.6 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.7 2.7 2.5 3.1 2007 3.0 2.9 2.7 3.1 3.5 4.0 4.0 3.8 3.6 3.5 3.3 3.2 3.4 2008 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.4 4.5 5.1 5.1 4.9 4.7 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.3 2009 5.6 6.1 6.4 6.9 7.5 8.0 7.9 7.4 7.7 7.8 7.5 7.2 7.2 2010 7.5 7.5 7.3 7.5 7.5 8.0 8.0 7.4 7.0 6.8 6.6 5.8 7.2 2011 6.1(C) 5.7 5.6 6.0 6.9 7.6 7.8 8.0 7.5(P)C : Corrected.
P : Preliminary.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
