Unemployment

More than one in three jobless Americans were out of work for at least a year in a handful of U.S. states that appear to be disproportionately caught up in the nation’s long-term unemployment problem.

Lasting spells of unemployment have been problematic in the wake of the most recent downturn and in seven states the situation was particularly dire. In New Jersey, Georgia, Michigan, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois and Florida more than a third of unemployed residents had been out of work for at least a year in 2010, according to Labor Department data that is expected to be released later this month.

Nearly all of those states had unemployment rates higher than the national average of 9.6% in 2010, but New Jersey is a bit of an outlier. Its unemployment rate averaged 9.4% for the year but it had the largest share of residents out of work for at least a year: 37.1%. The state had the second highest incomes in the country last year and offered higher unemployment benefits than the national average. Unemployed Americans living in New Jersey received, on average $394.46 in weekly unemployment benefits at the end of 2010, compared to $296.28 nationwide.
But there wasn’t always an obvious correlation between benefit levels and long-term unemployment. Most other states with large shares of long-term unemployed residents offered jobless benefits that fell below the national average.source;wsj