RJ and Makay

The unemployment rates of ten states have stubbornly remained above 10% for the first six months of this year. Amidst distressing budget problems, low tax receipts, and being pressed with high costs to maintain roads, public services and social services, jobless rates in some of these states are still worsening, with some states being so badly damaged by the recession that their unemployment rates are high enough to possibly require years to return to the “normal” rate of about 5%, which economists say is the benchmark.  At the same time, other states in the country have surprisingly low unemployment numbers in comparison, with jobless rates considerably lower than the national unemployment figure of 9.5%.