Unemployment Rates for States April 2011

Current Unemployment rates per state are listed below.   This data is from the BLS.gov website.

Unemployment Rates for States Monthly Rankings Seasonally Adjusted Apr. 2011p
Rank	State	Rate
1	NORTH DAKOTA	3.3
2	NEBRASKA	4.2
3	NEW HAMPSHIRE	4.9
3	SOUTH DAKOTA	4.9
5	VERMONT	5.3
6	OKLAHOMA	5.6
7	IOWA	6.0
7	WYOMING	6.0
9	HAWAII	6.1
9	VIRGINIA	6.1
11	MINNESOTA	6.5
12	KANSAS	6.7
13	MARYLAND	6.8
14	ALASKA	7.3
14	MONTANA	7.3
14	WISCONSIN	7.3
17	UTAH	7.4
18	PENNSYLVANIA	7.5
19	MAINE	7.6
19	NEW MEXICO	7.6
21	ARKANSAS	7.7
22	MASSACHUSETTS	7.8
23	NEW YORK	7.9
24	TEXAS	8.0
25	LOUISIANA	8.1
26	DELAWARE	8.2
26	INDIANA	8.2
28	OHIO	8.6
29	ILLINOIS	8.7
30	COLORADO	8.8
30	WEST VIRGINIA	8.8
32	MISSOURI	8.9
33	CONNECTICUT	9.1
33	WASHINGTON	9.1
35	ALABAMA	9.3
35	ARIZONA	9.3
35	NEW JERSEY	9.3
38	DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	9.6
38	IDAHO	9.6
38	OREGON	9.6
38	TENNESSEE	9.6
42	NORTH CAROLINA	9.7
43	SOUTH CAROLINA	9.8
44	GEORGIA	9.9
45	KENTUCKY	10.0
46	MICHIGAN	10.2
47	MISSISSIPPI	10.4
48	FLORIDA	10.8
49	RHODE ISLAND	10.9
50	CALIFORNIA	11.9
51	NEVADA	12.5

How Many College Students Get Scholarships?

Getting scholarships to help pay for college is a common strategy. It can be a pretty good strategy for sure.  I think that applying for scholarships is a great idea. If you can win any then its well worth the time and effort to try. I got a private scholarship from a regional chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers Mine was $1,000 regional prize (20 years ago) and all I had to do was fill out an application, write an essay and do an interview.   I had a 3.9+ GPA and I had won several academic awards in high school.    Less qualified applicants didn't get scholarships.

It seems that I hear a lot of people who expect or hope that their kid will get some form of scholarship. Most private scholarships are based on merit and are highly competitive.  Finaid.org reports that for 4 year college students "8.3% of undergraduate students received private scholarships worth $2,796 on average in 2007-08".   That means that 91.7% of undergraduates got no private scholarship money.  Very few students actually get academic scholarships.  I would not expect most students to have any realistic shot at getting a merit based scholarship.

Of course there are exceptions where scholarships are little known or advertised and have few applicants, but I would expect that these are rare situations. There is little reason to think most free money would go unnoticed or ignored. 
The NCES tracks data on student financing.  Student Financing of Undergraduate Education for 2007 - 2008
Universities give out need based aid  more than merit only aid.   While grants from institutions were received by 19.9% of students, the institutional merit-only grants were received by only 8.8% of undergraduates.  
"merit only grant" is another way of saying scholarship. 

The universities giving merit scholarships are heavily weighted towards the more expensive schools.   Universities that cost less than $6,000 to attend only gave aid of any form to 7.2% of students while universities that cost $19,000 or more gave aid to 43.2%.  Often time the scholarships given by universities only partially reduce a high tuition bill.  When I applied to colleges one private school in my home town awarded me a few scholarships.   However even with the scholarships it was still more expensive than our state public university.   I applied to some out of state universities and most of them gave me scholarships as well but none of them were affordable.  In the end I went to my local public university with no scholarships and it was still the cheapest.  Think of these scholarships at private universities like a 20% off sale at Nordstroms... its still more expensive than Sears.

The vast majority of students do not get merit based scholarships from private groups or colleges.   If a student excels academically then they should certainly pursue scholarships, but students or parents of students who are only average students should not generally expect academic scholarships.

How Much Do People Lose From Gambling?

I've mentioned several times before that I enjoy an occasional trip to Las Vegas.     I also enjoy buying an occasional lottery ticket.  For me gambling is just an entertaining diversion where I can spend $10 or $20 at a time for an interesting diversion and a chance at winning some money.   Compared to the usual Vegas gambler which spends $559 per trip on average I spend very little on gambling.  Most of my money in Vegas goes to hotels, show tickets and buffet trips.    Most of the people I know who go to Vegas spend a lot more on gambling than I do. 

How much Do Americans lose in Gambling?
 
This article Gambling : The Biggest Losers on The Economist shows how the USA compares to other nations as far as amount of gambling losses per adult.     The chart has bar graphs rather than exact figures but you can see that the value for the USA is around $375 loses per year per adult.

American Gambling Association gives figures for the total amount of commercial casino gross gambling revenue.   This figure is the amount of money the casinos keep after prizes are paid out.  In 2010 the total gross gambling revenue was $34.6 billion.    There are also many Native American casinos across the country.  Wikipedia article on Native American Gambling cites that revenues from Indian casinos is $18.5B.  Before I talked about state lotteries and gave some information on the payout rates.   Going back to the same source I got those numbers from we can also get information on the amount of money wagered and taken in by thee states.   They say that the total net sales by lotteries was $53.7B and prizes were $34.6B so that means that states took in $19.1B after paying out the prize money.

If you add these three up then thats $34.6B from commercial casinos + $18.5B for Native American gambling +  $19.1B for state lottery = $72.2 B in gambling losses by individuals.

The Census says that there are about 129.9M households in the USA as of 2009.    With $72.2B in gambling loses nationally that comes out to about an average of $556 in gambling loses per household annually.

However I should point out that some portion of the gambling loses in the USA are from tourists who are not US residents.  The actual amount lost by US residents is lower than that $556 figure.

Whether the loses are $375 per adult or $556 per household these are pretty large numbers.    The amount lost gambling by Americans is a pretty significant impact on our household finances.   We should keep in mind that these are just averages and that they will be skewed high by individual heavy gamblers.  

How common is Gambling?

Gambling to some extent is pretty common in America.   Most Americans gamble in one form or another.   A Gallup poll from 2007 reported that 24% of Americans visited a casino, 46% bought lottery tickets and 17% wagered on sports.     All together the poll reported that 65% of the people surveyed had gambled in some form or another.     That still leaves about 35% of the population who didn't gamble. 


Gambling Addiction Causes Serious Financial Problems

For most people gambling is an entertaining diversion but for some people it is a serious addition that can cause financial ruin.   An article hosted on the  Justice dept. site says "One research group suggests that about 10 percent of bankruptcy filings are linked to gambling losses, 20 percent or more of compulsive gamblers are forced to file bankruptcy because of their losses, and upwards of 90 percent of compulsive gamblers use their credit cards to gamble" and that "Harvard Medical School researchers estimate that around 1.3 percent of American adults have a gambling disorder."    The National Council on Problem Gambling says that among people calling a Wisconsion helpline for gambling problems "The average gambling debt of those who called in 2010 was $43,800"


Photo by belboo

What is Co-Insurance?

Co-insurance is a term that is new to me in the past few years.   When I first got my insurance at work I had a small co-pay but no co-insurance.   At that time I had no reason to be worried about co-insurance.   Over the years our insurance options have changed and I now have a policy with co-insurance. 

Co-insurance is a portion of the costs that the health care recipient is responsible for paying out of pocket.   Generally co-insurance is a percentage figure.     The co-insurance will kick in after a deductible is met and then stop after the total out of pocket is met.    The higher the co-insurance then the more you have to pay and the less the insurance pays.  

Whats the difference between a co-pay and co-insurance?

A co-pay is generally a fixed amount of money that you have to pay for a given service.  You may have a co-pay of $20 or $25 for a doctors office visit or a $10 co-pay for a prescription.   The co-pay is fixed at a specified amount.   With a co-insurance you are paying a percentage of the costs so the exact amount you pay is not fixed and depends on the cost of the health care received.   Generally co-insurance applies to any or all services you receive.

Is co-insurance Good or Bad?

Its bad if you have to pay it.   But if you don't have to pay it then higher co-insurance can keep your monthly premium lower.   Cheaper plans may have higher co-insurance rates, this can keep your monthly premiums lower but you'll run the risk of higher out of pocket costs above your deductible.   Generally every health insurance plan will be a balance between monthly premiums and risk of higher out of pocket costs.  If you are pretty healthy then a higher deductible and higher co-insurance plan could be cheaper for you overall, but carry a risk of higher costs.   On the other hand if you pay more monthly then you don't take the risks of high out of pocket costs but pay more up front.

How much is it?

The exact rate will depend on your insurance plan.   I've seen co-insurance rates in the 10-30% range on ehealthinsurance and my policy is 10%.   But I have heard of co-insurance as high as 50%.  
 
When do you have to pay it?

You pay co-insurance for any costs incurred above the deductible but below the out of pocket limit.  

Its easiest to explain with an example :   Lets say your insurance has a $1,000 deductible, 10% copay and a $15,000 out of pocket maximum.   You go to the doctors office for a ear infection and they charge you $184.   That is under your deductible so you pay that full $184 out of pocket.   You haven't met your deductible yet so the co-insurance does not apply.    Then you go to the doctors with stomach problems and you get a bunch of tests run.  That costs you $1,242.   You have $816 remaining to hit the deductible so the first $816 of the bill you have to pay in full.    That leaves $426 left above the deductible.  This is where your 10% co-insurance kicks in.  You pay 10% of that amount or $42.60.   The insurance will then pay the other 90% or $383.40.   Lastly you have to go in for surgery to fix your stomach problems and thats a really big bill of $24,346.   Again you pay 10% of the bill or in this case that would be $2,434.60.   Your insurer pays the remaining 90%.   You will continue to have to pay 10% of any costs until you hit the total out of pocket maximum.  Since the out of pocket maximum is $15,000 you'd have to have medical costs of over $141,000 for the year to hit the limit.

For the example above this is what the responsibility for health costs would look like between you and your insurer.

The red bits are what you pay and the yellow and green are what the insurance pays.

If you have an insurance plan with a co-insurance rate then it is important to understand what it means.  If you don't fully understand co-insurance then you might assume that your obligation ends once your deductible is met, but that won't be true.