Nevada now has the nation's highest unemployment rate
Just another reminder that the stimulus was and is an epic failure, especially for Nevada.
Nevada captured the top spot for joblessness in May, pushing Michigan out of a position it had held for more than four years.And of course, here comes Sen. Reid to say that things would have been worse without the stimulus.
New numbers from the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation show joblessness in the Silver State jumped to 14 percent in May, up from 13.7 percent in April...
Nevada's increase comes even as the recession is easing nationally. The country's unemployment rate ticked down from April to May, dropping from 9.9 percent to 9.7 percent...
Nevada's employers did add 4,800 jobs overall, but most of the increase came from seasonal or Census hiring. Still, the additions are an improvement from a year ago, when employers cut payrolls by 2,400 jobs from April to May. (Emphasis added)
On a day that Nevada's unemployment rate topped the nation, Sen. Harry Reid said things would be even worse if Democrats had not acted to create or save jobs through economic stimulus.It's easy to evaluate Sen. Reid's claim that the stimulus has helped the economy, because President Obama told us how the stimulus would affect the (national, not state) unemployment rate when Congress passed it last year. Needless to say, Obama and Sen. Reid were completely wrong on the stimulus' impact.
Reid, D-Nev., defended Democrats in a Senate speech Friday morning, saying 3 million Americans going to work today have Democrats to thank for pushing through the economic recovery bill last year.
"The economy in Nevada is not in good shape. It is getting better but not good," he said. "We are one of the leading states in the union with unemployment but think how much worse it would be if we have not been able to create these jobs in Nevada with the recovery bill."
Objectively, Nevada's unemployment situation can't be placed solely on Reid and Obama. After all, the Nevada Legislature passing the largest tax increase in the state's history last session and the legislative leadership's constant efforts to create a corporate income tax have contributed to our state's high unemployment.
But when you have politicians in power who don't understand economics, these are the results you get.
Bonus video of Sen. Reid talking about job loss.
