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Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

cohort11.americanobserver.net

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Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#31

Post by jhancock »

lallysingh wrote: post #17
lvecsey wrote: post #4

Did we really need those jobs in the first place? I don't mean whether each individual was benefiting from the income from his or her job. Collectively, were the jobs a net benefit or drag on the rest of us?

There was a NY times post here a little while ago showing the current unemployment rate broken down by age, gender, race, and education. Unsurprisingly, the difference in education was enormous. It's not too large a logical jump to say that some of the existing unskilled jobs were waiting for automated replacement. Well, that's one of two options I'm pondering. The other is that the economy's split into a very litera…

I've noticed that WalMart has cut back on floor and checkout personnel. If I can't find something, I find a floor staff person and problem solved. These days, I can walk half the store looking for an employee. Same is true for HomeDepot, McDonalds, Kroger.

These unskilled laborers were let go not because they didn't provide value, but because in lean times customers are willing to accept the inconvenience. They weren't and probably won't be replaced by automation. When the economy is strong again, customers will complain about such inconveniences and WalMart will be aggressively hiring again.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#32

Post by jjs »

lallysingh wrote: post #17
lvecsey wrote: post #4

Did we really need those jobs in the first place? I don't mean whether each individual was benefiting from the income from his or her job. Collectively, were the jobs a net benefit or drag on the rest of us?

There was a NY times post here a little while ago showing the current unemployment rate broken down by age, gender, race, and education. Unsurprisingly, the difference in education was enormous. It's not too large a logical jump to say that some of the existing unskilled jobs were waiting for automated replacement. Well, that's one of two options I'm pondering. The other is that the economy's split into a very litera…

> television news, product information from salespeople, etc. People who phone or walk in for customer service, use cash and other forms of nonelectronic payment, shop nearly exclusively at brick-and-mortar stores, etc.

The elderly?

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#33

Post by forensic »

bilbo0s wrote: post #18
bumblebird wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds very much like a "everyone for themselves" attitude to me. Which seems to be one of the bad things about the US.

I think what @lvecsey meant was that many Americans have jobs that exist only because of the liquidity in the financial markets. That is, without access to credit, or resources from investors, many companies in the US would not be able to pay their employees. So what he is really asking, I assume, is whether or not the debt or investment resources were being well spent on those positions? My honest answer would be I…

Since the entire money system is based on debt, the difference between credit and currency is difficult to discern.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#34

Post by natrius »

jhancock wrote: post #31
lallysingh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a NY times post here a little while ago showing the current unemployment rate broken down by age, gender, race, and education. Unsurprisingly, the difference in education was enormous. It's not too large a logical jump to say that some of the existing unskilled jobs were waiting for automated replacement. Well, that's one of two options I'm pondering. The other is that the economy's split into a very litera…

I've noticed that WalMart has cut back on floor and checkout personnel. If I can't find something, I find a floor staff person and problem solved. These days, I can walk half the store looking for an employee. Same is true for HomeDepot, McDonalds, Kroger. These unskilled laborers were let go not because they didn't provide value, but because in lean times customers are willing to accept the inconvenience. They weren…

I find your abundance of faith disturbing. I've seen several stores that have search kiosks in the pharmacy to help you find items. It's only a matter of time until retail customer service goes the knowledge base style of online customer service.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#35

Post by nostrademons »

blahedo wrote: post #29

A beautiful illustration of the extent to which choice and distribution of colour influences the interpretation of a graphic. The ominous rushing-in of the doom-and-gloom purples and greys was just about terrifying (ok, I exaggerate a little). Would this animation have had the same effect if scaled from e.g. blue to yellow?

Actually, yes. It'd just look like the country is on fire then. There've been similar charts (mostly for foreclosure rates or house prices, and for obesity) that use red->purple, green->red, and all other sorts of color combinations, and they all look similarly ominous.

The units are the real issue here. If they'd set the top bracket at 20%, this chart would be ho-hum. You'd have some splashes of color in Detroit, the Rust Belt, and Central California, and most of the country would be a moderate yellow or orange.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#36

Post by nostrademons »

bumblebird wrote: post #24
randallsquared wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. If those jobs were a net loss (and I have no idea about that), then finding something for those people to do which benefits everyone more is a win, both for "us" and "them".

Sure but thats an unattainable dream. Some people are always a drain on society. Either you leave them to die, or you give them a hand.

I think there are a large number of people who are not necessarily a drain on society, but have taken positions that aren't tangibly productive because easy credit has meant that that's where the money is. I know a lot of financial professionals, real estate agents, insurance salesmen, and corporate lawyers who are very bright and hardworking, but just shuffle money around all day instead of building things people will use, because that's the path of least resistance to a well-paying job.

The financial industry in particular is filled with incredibly brilliant people who spend their days trying to figure out how to outsmart each other, the government, and the public at large instead of inventing things that make peoples' lives better. Wall Street could easily support another dozen Googles or so, but rather than organize the world's information, they prefer to use it to siphon off the world's money.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#37

Post by nandemo »

danteembermage wrote: post #5

What's so great about the Dakotas? My guess is that there is a higher fraction of agriculture/rancher/self employed that simply scale back employment rather than the binary in or out of a job. "My small business is not doing very well" won't likely show up in unemployment statistics.

Perhaps unemployed Dakotans have been moving elsewhere?

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#38

Post by jhancock »

natrius wrote: post #34
jhancock wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that WalMart has cut back on floor and checkout personnel. If I can't find something, I find a floor staff person and problem solved. These days, I can walk half the store looking for an employee. Same is true for HomeDepot, McDonalds, Kroger. These unskilled laborers were let go not because they didn't provide value, but because in lean times customers are willing to accept the inconvenience. They weren…

I find your abundance of faith disturbing. I've seen several stores that have search kiosks in the pharmacy to help you find items. It's only a matter of time until retail customer service goes the knowledge base style of online customer service.

I'm sure some will provide kiosks chasing after similar goals as with self-checkout. I don't think adoption will be complete during this down economic turn and it may be cheaper and more customer friendly to provide floor staff again once the economy improves. Sure this is mostly wishful thinking.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#39

Post by wheels »

blahedo wrote: post #29

A beautiful illustration of the extent to which choice and distribution of colour influences the interpretation of a graphic. The ominous rushing-in of the doom-and-gloom purples and greys was just about terrifying (ok, I exaggerate a little). Would this animation have had the same effect if scaled from e.g. blue to yellow?

I think more to the point was that they used basically the full color spectrum to cover a few percentage points. It wouldn't have been nearly as dramatic if the color spectrum were mapped to the 0-100% range. The country really changes colors radically from national unemployment at 5% vs. 8%.

Re: Time-lapse map of unemployment rates by U.S. county during recession

#40

Post by messel »

blahedo wrote: post #29

A beautiful illustration of the extent to which choice and distribution of colour influences the interpretation of a graphic. The ominous rushing-in of the doom-and-gloom purples and greys was just about terrifying (ok, I exaggerate a little). Would this animation have had the same effect if scaled from e.g. blue to yellow?

I was thinking the same thing as I watched. Then I realized that the limits were pretty reasonable given unemployment dynamics.

Deeply interesting nonetheless. Is there some expectation of recovery hidden within the spatial graph?

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