Check out this nice MSNBC feature for jobs by sector and unemployment rates by state. On the state unemployment, be sure to note the slider at the top that allows you to shift it by each month of 2008.

What is fascinating to me is the number of sectors that are not in a downtrend for the second half of 2008… Local, State, and Federal Governments, as well as Education and Health Services (Quasi-Government), and “Other” Services. I’m not impressed by the uptrend in “Natural Resources and mining” due to its very small size by comparison to the other sectors.

Also interesting, the “Information” sector, in which I believe we would fall, has been in a decline since 2001.

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