News and Finance

Michigan and Georgia lost the most jobs in September, led by a slump in employment at government agencies and manufacturers as the slowdown spread through the U.S. economy.

The count in Michigan dropped by 28,300 employees last month as government agencies eliminated 18,000 jobs and factories cut payrolls by 6,500, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. A 7,500 drop in employment at public agencies was the biggest factor behind a 22,300 decline in Georgia's job total.

The report showed payrolls shrank in 41 states, including Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — among those most hotly contested in next month's presidential election. The loss of jobs underscored why Democrat Barack Obama has gained against Republican John McCain in polls over the last month.

The unemployment rate rose in 21 states, led by a 0.6 percentage-point gain in Tennessee. The jobless rate dropped in states such as Michigan and South Carolina where payroll losses mounted as thousands of workers gave up looking for employment and left the labor force. People not in the labor force aren't counted as unemployed.

The jobless rate in Michigan, which McCain effectively ceded to Obama after pulling out his campaign staff earlier this month, was 8.7 percent in September, the second-highest in the nation. Detroit-based General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., based in Dearborn, Michigan, continued firings as sales slumped.

“The economic meltdown has increased both Obama's lead and his odds of winning considerably,'' Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said in an interview.

State Tally

The tally of individual state figures showed the U.S. lost 251,000 jobs last month, compared with the 159,000 drop in payrolls reported by the Labor Department earlier this month.

The state and local employment data are derived independently from the national statistics, which are typically released on the first Friday of every month. The state figures, because they come from smaller surveys, are subject to larger sampling errors, making the national figures more reliable, according to the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The states also use different seasonal-adjustment factors and the timing of their surveys may differ from the national report. The state totals showed either smaller job losses or gains in payrolls from May through August compared with the national figures that showed a drop every month.

In the 12 months ended in September, Florida led all states with a 155,500 drop in payroll employment, followed by Michigan, with a decrease of 77,700, and California, with a 77,200 decline. Texas gained 247,900 jobs in the last year.

Hurricane Ike

Texas lost 4,000 jobs in September, the first decline in more than year faxless online payday advances. The decrease was due to the slowdown in U.S. growth rather than the effects of Hurricane Ike, the state said.

“September job losses in Texas reflect continued turbulence in the national economy,'' Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken, said in statement on the state's Web site.

“Due to the statistical formula used in our monthly calculations, the negative effect of Hurricane Ike won't begin to register until our October numbers are released.''

The report corroborates the Labor Department's statement earlier this month that it was “unlikely'' Hurricane Ike “had substantial effects'' on September's payroll figures. That indicates job losses in October may be even larger, reflecting the influence of the storm.

Florida, Ohio

In Florida, which voted for George W. Bush in the last two presidential elections, the unemployment rate has risen 2.6 percentage points in the past year to 6.6 percent. In Ohio, which every Republican who won a presidential election has carried, the jobless rate is up 1.3 percentage points to 7.2 percent.

Americans facing the worst housing slump in a generation and a deteriorating labor market saw their retirement savings implode this month as stock markets crashed. The worst financial crisis in at least 70 years forced the Republican Bush administration to buy stakes in some of the nation's largest banks.

The drumbeat of dire news has focused voters' attention on the economy. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll released last week showed that more than three-quarters of Americans say the U.S. faces a “serious economic crisis,'' and 56 percent of respondents said they were confident Obama had a plan to deal with the financial crisis. Almost half of voters said Obama would do a better job handling the market meltdown and the economy in general.

Up for Grabs

The economy has put states like Virginia, which has gone Republican in the last 10 elections, and North Carolina, which no Democrat has won since Jimmy Carter in 1976, up for grabs. North Carolina's jobless rate last month reached 7 percent, a rate not exceeded since 1984.

“Ever since things have tanked, it increased the sense in me that we need a different way of doing things.'' said Pam Doak, a 45-year-old Virginia state employee in Richmond who plans to vote Democratic. “I am concerned about job security.''

The jobless rate nationwide in September was 6.1 percent, matching August's as the highest since 2003. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast it will rise to 6.4 percent by the end of this year.

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