The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics* showed 22 states recording measurably lower unemployment rates than the national average -- 7.2 percent -- in December 2008.

Wyoming recorded the lowest unemployment rate, 3.4 percent, followed closely by North Dakota, at 3.5 percent. Total employment increased in only one state, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia. Louisiana improved by 3,700 and employment in the District of Columbia increased by 100.

Since December 2007, employment has risen in eight states and the District of Columbia. Wyoming had the largest increase in employment over the year (2.2 percent), followed by Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska and South Dakota.

If you're among the millions of people looking for work, here are 10 states where you might want to start your job search, as they have lower unemployment rates than the national average:

Top-10 states with low unemployment
1. Wyoming ... 3.4 percent
Total employment: 293,900
Mean annual salary: $36,110**

2. North Dakota ... 3.5 percent
Total employment: 371,500
Mean annual salary: $33,650

3. South Dakota ... 3.9 percent
Total employment: 445,900
Mean annual salary: $31,540

4. Nebraska ... 4.0 percent
Total employment: 997,600
Mean annual salary: $35,270

5. Utah ... 4.3 percent
Total employment: 1,383,000
Mean annual salary: $37,080

6. Iowa ... 4.6 percent
Total employment: 1,671,900
Mean annual salary: $34,650

7. New Hampshire ... 4.6 percent
Total employment: 739,500
Mean annual salary: $40,780

8. New Mexico ... 4.9 percent
Total employment: 966,100
Mean annual salary: $35,790

9. Oklahoma ... 4.9 percent
Total employment: 1,768,900
Mean annual salary: $33,720

10. West Virginia ... 4.9 percent
Total employment: 800,000
Mean annual salary: $32,310

The Labor Department on Friday said unemployment topped 10 percent in 15 states and the District of Columbia last month. And the jobless rate in Michigan surpassed 15 percent, the first time any state hit that mark since 1984.

Surprisingly, North and South Dakota are doing really good, with N. Dakota at 4.2%, the lowest. Time to move to Fargo?

More from the Boston Globe.

If you lose your job these days, it's worth scrambling to find a new one fast. After six months of unemployment, your chances of landing work dwindle.

The proportion of people jobless for six months or more has accelerated in the past year and now makes up 46 percent of the unemployed. That's the highest percentage on records dating to 1948. By late summer or early fall, they are expected to make up half of all jobless Americans.

Read the whole article on Huffington Post

Managing The Emotional Roller Coaster

There's no way around it - unemployment is a bumpy, unpredictable emotional roller-coaster ride. Even under the best of circumstances; when you've got ample savings, decent job prospects, and a healthy severance package, few people manage to escape the unemployment blues. While you can't change the unpredictable nature of the ride, there are steps you can take to better manage your reaction to the peaks and valleys you'll inevitably experience. Here are ten suggestions to help you better manage the anxiety of unemployment:

1. Don't compare yourself to others: The impact of job loss varies from person to person. It's likely that a single 25 year-old who lives at home and is thinking about going back to graduate school will react to his/her job loss with a different intensity than a 40 year old single mother who is laid off from the only job she has ever held. But, it's also true that two people in similar situations may have two totally different reactions to their common loss. Each individual is unique and reacts with a wide range of emotions and behaviors; there is no one right way to handle this transition.

    

2. Become part of a support group: As wonderful as family and friends can be, many people find that joining a support group of peers is the most valuable support of all. Interacting with a group of people, who are in your situation and can fully understand what you're going through, can be an invaluable aid in helping you maintain perspective and a sense of humor during your search.

    

3. Be honest about your emotions: Admitting your anger, fear, and frustrations to your support group is the first step toward managing your emotions instead of letting them control you.

    

4. Name and Claim the Enemy: Rather than walking around with a vague but continual sense of anxiety, try to figure out what specific things worry you most. By facing what you actually fear (i.e. financial instability, concerns that you'll never find a comparable position) you can see how realistic your fears are and begin to work on a plan for addressing those issues.

    

5. Recognize that Luck Plays a Role in this Process: While it's hard not to wonder why your friend landed a job quickly while you're still looking, the answer is that every person's search proceeds at a unique pace. Luck, timing, market opportunities and a hundred other factors conspire together in mysterious ways. Remember the saying, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

    

6. Avoid Negative People: A group of pessimistic nay-sayers will do nothing but reinforce your worst fears. Align yourself with friends and colleagues who think more of you than you think of yourself - their suggestions will inspire, empower, and encourage you to move on in the face of rejection. Sometimes though, even the best-intentioned people don't know what to say and as a result usually end up saying the wrong thing. Try to remember their intentions are honorable even if their actions are less than helpful.

    

7. Take Care of Yourself: Mom was right; it's important to take care of yourself. Get enough sleep, exercise and eat well. Don't allow yourself to mope around the house in pajamas all day - project an image that reinforces a positive outlook.

    

8. Focus on the Positive: While you can't change events, you can change how you react to them. Instead of focusing on the negatives on your life, take note of the positive side of unemployment. Whether it's the opportunity to spend more time with your children, having a chance to explore new career directions or simply being able to sleep past 6 a.m., there is undoubtedly something positive to recognize during this difficult transition.

    

9. Keep Busy: There is nothing more depressing than staring at an empty calendar. Schedule your job search activities (i.e. 10 a.m.- 11 a.m.: make cold calls, 2 p.m.- 4 p.m.: work on revising resume, etc.) as you would normal business appointments. If you have blocks of unused time, look in the newspaper for listings of business related meetings, trade shows or seminars that you might be able to attend. Go to the library. Force yourself to get out of the house.

    

10. Volunteer: By helping others you'll help yourself feel more valued. Even if it's only a few hours each month, the psychological boost of helping those less fortunate can be significant.

     

Finally, if your sadness feels very profound and does not seem to improve, consider getting professional help. The cost of ignoring depression can be far greater than the cost of getting treatment. Consult your local mental health clinics, social services agencies or professional counselors for help for yourself and family members who are affected by your unemployment. Some assistance may be covered by your health insurance or, if you do not have insurance, counseling is often available on a "sliding scale" fee, based on income.

- Nancy Collamer

Career Consultant
Author of The Layoff Survival Guide
www.layoffsurvivalguide.com

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Beliefnet has an excellent article titled 12 Depression Busters for the Unemployed

Excellent article. Go read it immediately if the following describes your state of mind:

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression affects 6 million men each year. But most men's depression goes undiagnosed. They are much less likely to seek help because of the macho thing (they feel like they are supposed to tough it out) and because their symptoms are different than those we typically associate with depression (women's). So it's helpful to look out for these clues of male depression: irritability and anger, blaming others, alcohol and drug abuse, feeling ashamed, insomnia or sleeping too little, strong fear of failure, using TV, sports, and sex to self-medicate.

Harvey Mackay's latest book, "User your head to get your foot in the door" begins with a dedication to the "dedicated" that encapsulates the message: "Dedicated to exhaustive preparation in advance of any job search step-be it polishing a resume, approaching a recruiter, or appearing for an interview."

Coming from the man who suggested, long before the days of LinkedIn, that you should "dig your well before you're thirsty," you should take that as your marching orders: you have to be dedicated to your job-search process, especially in these dark days.

One word to potential buyers: this book, like most other books of this type, is not for everyone. While the author does not come out and say it, this book is aimed solidly at middle-managers and above at white-collar jobs. If you are a construction supervisor or a machine operator, this book may help you a bit with personal growth, but probably will not help you keep or get a job.

One thing struck me about chapter 5: "12 Herculean labors to keep you on the payroll"-as a manager, these are traits I'd like to see in my employees. I try to follow these every day. It truly is a shame that Mr. Mackay has to remind people that these are things one should do to keep one's job.

Chapter 7, "Yours to Lose" gives an example of highly qualified internal candidate who loses out on a promotion because he did not prepare adequately (the Hare and Tortoise story, illustrated with Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign).

The book has 9 sections:

• Dark Days
• Reconstruct Your Attitude
• Re-employment: Your Extreme Preparation Guide
• Mobilize Your Network
• Fill In the Blanks
• D-Day: Plan the Attack
• Get Hired
• Stay Afloat
• Afterthoughts

Each section consists of bite-size chapters, often 2 pages or less. Mr. Mackay, with his years of experience and lucid writing style, has conveyed the necessary information in those short chapters. But I cannot help but feel conflicted about this. For a busy exec with a demanding schedule, this might be right, but I also feel that this leaves out an important part: the "How." In the aforementioned Chapter 7 and elsewhere, examples are given about the "what", and I am assuming it is left to the reader to convert those to action items. So these left me wanting a bit more. A "Do this:" section at the end of each chapter would have filled that craving nicely.

For someone without a job, "Reconstruct Your Attitude" would be valuable because nothing kills a job-search like being depressed.

Chapter 22, "Getting a job is a job" is the crux of this book, and amplifies the dedication we talked about before. This chapter also delves into specifics a candidate needs to do to succeed at this "job." If you remember one thing from this book, this is it.

Chapter 27, "Expose yourself" contains valuable advice about videotaping a mock interview so you can review them later. This is absolutely critical because I have seen perfectly smart candidates hew and hmm during interviews. A videotaped interview would help one overcome those, and this chapter

The next section, "Mobilize your network" is Mr. Mackay's old stomping ground, and it is no surprise that the advices are to-the-point, and useful.

Chapter 39 is an "Interview Prep Checklist" and all 44 items are worth following.

Rest of the chapters, while not specifically cited in this review, are also extremely useful depending on your situation.

This book, like all of Mr. Mackay's books, was excellent and useful. I would definitely recommend it.

You can buy it on Amazon:

Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You

Paul Kurgman writes in the New York Times.

Today, American workers face the worst job market since the Great Depression, with five job seekers for every job opening, with the average spell of unemployment now at 35 weeks. Yet the Senate went home for the holiday weekend without extending benefits. How was that possible?

The answer is that we're facing a coalition of the heartless, the clueless and the confused. Nothing can be done about the first group, and probably not much about the second. But maybe it's possible to clear up some of the confusion.

By the heartless, I mean Republicans who have made the cynical calculation that blocking anything President Obama tries to do - including, or perhaps especially, anything that might alleviate the nation's economic pain - improves their chances in the midterm elections. Don't pretend to be shocked: you know they're out there, and make up a large share of the G.O.P. caucus.

By the clueless I mean people like Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate for senator from Nevada, who has repeatedly insisted that the unemployed are deliberately choosing to stay jobless, so that they can keep collecting benefits. A sample remark: "You can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that is an honest job but it doesn't pay as much. We've put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry."

Now, I don't have the impression that unemployed Americans are spoiled; desperate seems more like it. One doubts, however, that any amount of evidence could change Ms. Angle's view of the world - and there are, unfortunately, a lot of people in our political class just like her.

What is scary is, people like Sharron Angle somehow manage to convince the jobless that she has their best interest in mind.