Employment Trends and Elections

Polls that were taken this week show that there are two primary concerns that United States voters have, especially when it comes to the presidential election. These two major concerns are the economy, as well as the job outlook. Recent information shows that the unemployment rate has actually risen in nearly ten states while it remained steady in 12 other states. The unemployment rate did, however, drop in 30 states, all of this between the months of February and March 2012. The statistical information on unemployment was provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Some of the declines in unemployment came from Oklahoma, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Florida, Nevada, and Michigan. Each of these states had the overall largest amount of declines out of all the other states in the country. The current states with the lowest unemployment rates happen to be mostly Republican. These particular states include North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Overall, there are a total of 20 states in the United States that have a lower unemployment from the month of January in 2009, which is when President Obama took office. The largest decline of unemployment came from the state of Michigan. The unemployment rate is at 8.5 percent, where it was once at 11.3% prior to Obama taking office. The unemployment rate in Michigan was at an all-time high during the month of August in 2009, when it reached an all-time high of 14.2%. This shows that Obama did, in fact, do his job at improving the economy and boosting different industrial sectors in the Michigan area.

Ohio, which is also known for being a battleground, has seen a total decrease of 3.1 percent, especially when the unemployment rate was at 10.6% during January of 2010. The unemployment rate for Ohio is now at 7.5%, which shows a major decline. Obama was in the Ohio area recently, working on the investments made for job training, helping people to find employment.

However, there are other states that are not doing so well. When the president first started, the state of Nevada had an unemployment rate of 9.6%. However, the unemployment rate for that state is now at a high 12%. While it is at 12%, it is still lower than it was during its peak high during 2010. Nevada is one of the top states in the United States with such a high unemployment rate. Aside from Nevada, there is also Rhode Island and California that are still dealing with double digit unemployment rates. Because some of these swing states are dealing with such high unemployment rates, it could have a major effect on the outcome of the presidential elections which will be taking place this year.