Irony: Worse To Be Unemployed In Blue States

Unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, is a pestilence that ruins peoples' lives. I know from first-hand experience. I also know that cost of living is the arch enemy of the unemployed. And Bloomberg confirmed today a suspicion I've had about being unemployed in states with "generous" benefits: the higher benefits doled out in most of these states (blue states) are effectively smaller than the lower benefits granted in most red states. Why? Because the cost of living in most blue states is disproportionally greater.

When I was receiving benefits, I was "better off" receiving the relatively meager amount my state of South Carolina sent me than, for example, an unemployed person receiving the relatively generous $406 the state of New Jersey allots. Why? Because the median income in South Carolina is between $30,000 and $40,000, while the median income in the garden state is greater than $50,000. Median income, see, strongly correlates with cost of living. Not only do residents of states with the highest median incomes bear the brunt of the highest prices, but they also pay--by far--the highest tax rates. South Carolina's median income of $30-40K "goes further" here than Jersey's $50K+ median income does in that state.

Anyway, here's Bloombergs breakdown of where it sucks especially badly to be long-term unemployed:

If you happen to be unemployed in these states and you have the means, move! Red states typically have better employment opportunities. And weather.