When Did Your County's Jobs Disappear? An interactive map

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.slate.com/id/2216238/

An interactive map of vanishing employment across the country.
By Chris Wilson
Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at 2:00 PM ET
The economic crisis, which has claimed more than 5 million jobs since the recession began, did not strike the entire country at once. A map of employment gains or losses by county tells the story of how those job losses first struck in the most vulnerable regions and then spread rapidly to the rest of the country. As early as August 2007, for example—several months before the recession officially began—jobs were already on the decline in southwest Florida; Orange County, Calif.; much of New Jersey; and Detroit, while other areas of the country remained on the uptick.

Using the Labor Department's local area unemployment statistics, Slate presents the recession as told by unemployment numbers for each county in America. Because the data are not seasonally adjusted for natural employment cycles throughout the year, the numbers you see show the change in the number of people employed compared with the same month in the previous year. Blue dots represent a net increase in jobs, while red dots indicate a decrease. The larger the dot, the greater the number of jobs gained or lost. Click the arrows or calendar at the bottom to see each month of data. Click the green play button to see an animation of the data.

[havocmom]

1. Good resource, thanks for posting

Since map works from a base of 250 jobs changed, our county has no data. Not that many people employed in this county. Most are self-employed. Guess that helps.

[hedgehog]

2. I'm wondering how many people are facing this scenario:

Living in an area with a stagnant or declining economy, the decision is made to move across the country to where the jobs are. This means leaving behind friends and family and may involve selling a house at a loss.

Once in the new area, the person finds that rents re exorbitant and housing prices out of this world. Maybe a large mortgage it taken out, with the reassurance that the house's value will only go up.

Now, the person may be out of work, holding an upside down mortgage and miles away from any support system.

[Mnemosyne]

3. Just stunning to see. knr n/t

[angstlessk]

4. the good news for Detroit is, they are not alone in their plight/blight any longer?

I saw that SE MI never changed from bright red!!! scary!!!

[qb]

5. What's with all of the blue circles in Texas and Louisiana?

Debt-collector phone banks?

[Occulus]

11. Someone in the Slate comments said it was aerospace, chemical engineering, and biotech n/t

[Wednesdays]

15. Probably the same as here in Oklahoma: energy and agriculture

People can somehow get by without nearly everything else, but everyone has to eat and use energy in order to survive.

[mzteris]

6. interesting that Midland, Tx

has gained jobs . . .

[glitch]

7. Shock and Awe K & R nt

[Saturday]

8. I don't understand, why is the map so blue? nt

[LiberalFighter]

10. The default is in 2006 I think. If you click on 2008 Jan or Feb it is mostly red.

[seemslikeadream]

12. Did you click on the arrow for automatic update

[lunatica]

13. Follow the directions. It's an interactive map

Click on the green arrow at the bottom right of the map and it'll show you each month since 2007. The months are those squares at the bottom. You can also roll your cursor over the map and it will show you the job gains an losses for each county

[lunatica]

14. It's a very sobering map

[LiberalFighter]

9. The map sucks!! When zooming in the info does not show completely in the box.

You have to zoom in in order to find the county of interest because they are sooo small.