Unemployment: Some Alabama places have effective rates of almost 30%

      The New York Times has published maps showing stark unemployment rates in parts of New York, Chicago, and---closer to home: Selma, Tuskegee and Montgomery.

The method used to come up with these dire rates is as much a hunch as a pure economic formula, Call it...

 

"...an educated guess of the number of Black female food-service workers in each tract, then matched those demographics to national monthly unemployment statistics on the occupations and demographic groups most severely affected in this downturn.

The approach makes it possible to gauge employment differences at a finer level of geography than what the government reports. But these estimates also come with much wider room for error than official statistics, and the researchers warn that the results should be viewed alongside other data as policymakers try to understand an economy in free fall."

                                                                                                    (N.Y. Times story HERE.)

 

Parts of Montgomery  23%

Parts of Selma             25%

Parts of Tuskegee        28%

The Alabama Department of Labor is scheduled to release the local unemployment stats on Friday.