This past April, we discussed the fact that 14 states were borrowing funds from the federal government in order to pay unemployment benefits. At the present time there are 18 states who have borrowed $13,576,707,278.17. The state of MN has repaid their outstanding loan, while the states of FL, ID and RI have recently had to borrow federal dollars to keep their trust funds solvent. Currently the federal unemployment fund has $4,950,229,197 in its coffers.

There are signs that things are starting to turn around. For example, In July, employers took 2,157 mass layoff actions involving 206,791 workers. The number of mass layoff events decreased by 606 and the number of initial claims decreased by 72,440 from the prior month. These seem to be positive signs.

However the true marker for the "bottom" in the unemployment area will be when monthly new claim filings drop to below 400,000 per month. Another positive indicator that employment has begun to stabilize will be when consumer spending starts to increase.

We will continue to monitor the economic indicators and report accordingly.