Posted on 01/23/2012 8:31:09 PM PST by Olog-hai
Vicious cycles of debt and irresponsible lending helped to cause the Great Recession, and now another vicious cycle of housing weakness and unemployment is keeping many cities from recovering.
Of the 10 metropolitan areas with the toughest job situations, seven are in California. Cities in the Golden State, as well as in Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, have suffered greatly from falling housing prices and high unemployment. These places saw skyrocketing home prices during the housing bubble. After it became clear that many buyers had purchased homes well out of their price range and the market collapsed, many of those houses went vacant.
Among U.S. metropolitan areas with 200,000 people or more, here are the 10 worst metro areas for finding a job.
Metro Area | Unemployment Rate, Nov. 2011 | Y-Y Change |
---|---|---|
1. Merced, Calif. | 16.9 | -1.7 |
2. Fresno, Calif. | 15.7 | -1.7 |
3. Modesto, Calif. | 15.5 | -1.7 |
4. Stockton, Calif. | 15.5 | -2.3 |
5. Visalia-Porterville, Calif. | 15 | -1.8 |
6. Atlantic City-Hammonton, N.J. | 12.4 | 0.1 |
7. Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. | 13.4 | -2.2 |
8. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C. | 11.7 | -0.7 |
9. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. | 12.5 | -2.0 |
10. Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas | 11.2 | -0.5 |
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Columbia South Carolina isn’t great either like most anywhere else.
No, you are not. Its inertia.
This is BS. they should try finding a job in Birmingham, Alabama. There are no new jobs here.
Haven’t you heard? Detroit is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding country-side. It has no real jobs to offer a population that has mostly left it.
Fresno and the San Joaquin valley looks and feels like Mexico. It is a sanctuary area for the illegal migrant worker. The loss of water to the farms ( Thanks to Costa ,Pelosi, and Boxer) has destroyed the productivity of the valley. The Housing market has been destroyed so there is no construction jobs. The people here are so poor that they have to raise money via car washes to bury their love ones. The homeless stand on almost every street corner begging for money. It is very depressing here and you can see the effects of the Obama policies.
Ahh, the Golden State is tarnishing. That’s sad.
I read recently somewhere that we recently dropped to 9th.
Since they don’t have to count the illegals... just goes to show you how really bad it is for the citizens of the Central Valleys.... Just as bad all over California and the idiot Governor is making it worse. Special shout to John and Ken for their media hype-help in getting us another term of Governor Moonbeam. Can’t believe the so called conservatives who still listen to these two jerks. They do a lot to damage any conservative that even thinks to run in a major office in Calif.
“We are the 8th largest economy in the world, and have 38 million people, so we must be doing SOMETHING right.”
Very little. Mostly the state is coasting on the labor of those who went before.
Give it a few more years. California will look like the Manila City Dump.
Mill Valley native here, living on the east coast. I know exactly how you feel. I'm going to take some time off and go out in the next few months.
I lived in CA for years....Merced, Davis, Citrus Heights (Sacramento). I loved it but would never, ever live in that state again. It’s far too screwed up by liberals/Democrats.
I mean well and truly screwed up. The morons in the LA and Bay Area regions of the state keep electing uber-libs to state and national level offices, leaving the remaining Californians to deal with their idiocy for years afterward.
California is getting exactly what it has begged for. Reap it.
The hyper-liberalism, lack of border enforcement, and high taxes. Among other things.
CA wins!
Just goes to show ya what illegal aliens and a predominantly mexican and black population can do for ya!
You go, CA!
To be fair, most of the Californians who post here are Prune Eaters, not Pickers.
True!
I have been through Merced recently. I don’t want to go back there.
The water was cut off to the west side of Fresno County. Tulare, Kings, and Kern counties were not affected by it.
Hyper-liberalism thrives in MOST big cities, not just in California. You know that.
Lack of border enforcement happens in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas too only MORE people want to come to California because there are MORE jobs. Get real. People sneak across the Canadian border too but only a few because there aren't so many jobs up there. Yes, illegals go to Canada FIRST then sneak over the Canadian line. What do the Canadians care about borders? They have an open frontier.
High taxes, yep, but nothing compared to New York. New York City has its own income tax.
So, before you shoot off your mouth do some reading first. It's obvious you have some "issues" with the Golden State. 38 million people are here, while MANY states in the midwest and north east and north midwest BLEED people.
Maybe it's just the weather; ice and snow for months and months on end must get old.
With all that moving I can understand attitude.
I loathe, hate, detest, abhor and deplore moving. We did a lot of thirty years ago. We stopped the moving crap in 1985 and are delighted with our home...unpacked once and for all, with minor packing for wonderful vacations.
Arcata...home of some of the state's most liberal liberals. They shut down the entire Humboldt county industries of fishing and lumber, being moron-greenies. Now the young men take up the old, sure-fire industry of drugs, making and selling.
Things are so bad that the FBI set up shop in Eureka and the Coast Guard moved in with shore patrols.
The Redwoods ARE marvelous. Have you ever noticed how QUIET the Redwood forests are? That's because there are few birds and there are few birds because there are few bugs. There are few bugs because the mightly redwood isn't liked by bugs.
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