US Jan unemployment rate will be larger # than how many states' population?

Heh - the Employment Situation Summary calls them "job losers" :-) How cruel - kicking them when they're down by calling them names :-D

But being the way I am, next time I see some unemployed person, I'll yell "Hey, Job Loser!"

Valorn, please clarify how you reached your totals.

The 14 smallest states total 15,219,405 with West Virginia at # 14 smallest. That would correspond with your statement about being around 100,000 short at the September total of 15.1 million, however your background says the total includes the District of Columbia which has 591,833 people. That would bring the total for 14 states and D.C. to 15,811,238.

Will your settlement qualify with or without the District of Columbia? It could significantly affect the number of states the Jan 2010 number will include. This discrepancy could be grounds for requesting a void due to misleading background if not clarified.

@ mickeydaniel

Thanks for your query! My intention is to continue to include Washington DC in the final numbers as I included it in the initial assessment. Here are the numbers I used, from the websites mentioned in the background:

WV1,814,468
Nebraska 1,783,432
Idaho 1,523,816
Maine 1,316,456
New Hampshire 1,315,809
Hawaii 1,288,198
Rhode Island 1,050,788
Montana 967,440
Delaware 873,092
South Dakota 804,194
Alaska 686,293
North Dakota 641,481
Vermont 621,270
District of Columbia 591,833
Total = 15,278,570

...sorry, previous comment entered prior to completion, anyway, using the BLS's own website is where I came up with the 9.8% equallying 15.1M lost jobs...

"Household Survey Data

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed
persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment
rate has doubled to 9.8 percent. (See table A-1.)" source: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Using some reverse engineering to try and decipher the BLS's logic I'm coming up with 15.1M folks being 9.8% of a pool of 154,081,650 eligible lads & lasses... so, keeping this logic moving forward, if the unemployment numbers remain constant between now and Jan, or only fluxuate a bit, then the BLUE option of 14 states, (DC plus the next 13) will prevail.

IF, the situation worsens appreciably and the unemployment rate, nationally, gets to 11.0% in Jan 2010; then the next largest state, New Mexico, will also have been eclipsed, and the YELLOW option would prevail. Here is the math on this scenario:

Baseline = 9.8% also stated as 15.1M per BLS... 15.1M is 9.8% of 154,081,650 or The US Total Population, for purposes of THIS question.

Population of New Mexico is 1,984,356... 15,100,000 + 1,984,356 = 1,708,358.... 1,708,358 is 0.110878602%. but I'm rounding to just 11.0%.

So, if you think the Jan numbers will be about what they are now, 9.8% to 10.9% go with Blue, if you think it will top 11.0% go Yellow, if you think things will improve and actually equal 13 states or fewer, (in this case you would subtract West Virginia... and the unemployment rate would need to be down around 8.6%, then please simply contact me and let me know where all these jobs are so I can move there, and select the green option...

,

Valorn, it appears you left Wyoming off your initial list with 532,668. That is why our numbers differed. Add in Wyoming to your total of 15,278,570 and you will come to my total of 15,811,238. That represents a much larger jump to the totals of 14 and 15 states if you are also including the District of Columbia and changes your percentages.

Now using your reverse math, you need to add both the 532,668 for WY & the 1,984,356 for NM or 2,517,024 to the base of 15,100,000. That total is 17,617,024 or 0.1633565%, making yellow (15 states) a very unlikely possibility.

Just adding WY to the base would give you 15,632,668 or 0.10145703% to reach 14 states plus DC (blue).

That is where my money goes based on your original criteria and clarification of intent to include DC.