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While unemployment did drop by just shy of 200,000, the size of the labor force also contracted by 300,000 resulting in more than 500,000 people no longer seeking work. As detailed in earlier posts on the subject, all of the attempts to chalk up this decline to baby boomers retiring, or some other, non-economic phenomena can easily disproved by the data.
As reported by various media outlets earlier this week, the Health Care Oversight Committee held a hearing with representatives of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Anthem, who will be the only health insurance provider offering plans on the New Hampshire Exchange, confirmed that future exchange customers would only have access to only about half of the hospitals in the state.
The unemployment rate for New Hampshire was 5.1% for the month of July, remaining unchanged from the previous month. According to the Household Survey, the number of unemployed residents fell by 390, the number of unemployed fell by 460, while the labor force has contracted by 850.
An initial look at state revenues for fiscal year 2013 showed that the year ended with a $47.9 million dollar surplus in the General and Education Trust Funds. Most tax collection was in line with forecast, with several major exceptions. In addition, several, one-time revenues were realized, further growing the surplus. Though these figures are unaudited, the final size of the surplus will likely be roughly the same.
Last week the City of Manchester saw its general obligation bond rating downgraded from Aa1 to Aa2; in layman’s terms it went from the second highest to the third highest ranking category affecting $193 million in outstanding general obligation (GO) debt. Moody’s also downgraded the school facility revenue bonds to Aa3, affecting $77.3 million in outstanding bonds.
According to the data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate dropped by .2 percentage points, to 7.4%. The Establishment Survey Data showed the creation of 161,000 non-farm pay roll jobs. On the surface it looks like a fairly decent report: unemployment down and job growth, while not stellar, is enough to keep up with natural population growth.
The unemployment rate in New Hampshire fell by one tenth of a percentage point in June to 5.2%, representing a decrease in the number of unemployed by 1400. The number of jobs created according to the Household Survey however was only 250, meaning the balance of the no longer unemployed (1,150) left the workforce.
The June unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6%. While the ranks of the unemployed grew by 17,000, the increase was not large enough to change the rate. The number of those not in the workforce grew by 12,000, but those classified as wanting a job fell by 132,000.
The Fiscal Year 2014-15 Budget passed both the House and Senate by wide margins on June 26th, and is currently awaiting Governor Hassan’s signature, who has said that she will sign it. So how does this year’s final budget look like over all? In General Funds, it spends roughly $213.9 million more than in the previous biennium.
According to New Hampshire Employment Security, the unemployment rate for the state in the month of May fell to 5.3%, a drop from 5.5% in April.