Unemployment

I've decided to follow the ongoing issue of unemployment throughout this school year.
Though the unemployment rate is not as its worst, it clearly reflects the current recession. As of August 2011, the national unemployment rate was at 9.1%. I found a graph that shows how this has fluctuated over the past two and a half years or so, shown here. According to the Labor department, manufacturing has lost 3,000 jobs and retail has lost 8,000 in the past month. Also in that time span however, health care has added 30,000 jobs and over 300,000 in the past year, which is far higher than any other industry. Economist Michael Spence sees this as a shift in our economy from the tradable sector (ex: manufacturing) to the nontradable sector (ex: health care and government). A contributing factor to this shift is the movement of manufacturing jobs to countries overseas. I found a poll today asking what the most important problem currently facing our country is, and more people said unemployment than any of the other three issues: the economy in general, the federal budget deficit, and dissatisfaction with government.