San Benito County was the 12th most economically stressed county
in the United States in November 2010, according to The Associated
Press’s recently-released Economic Stress Index.
San Benito County was the 12th most economically stressed county in the United States in November 2010, according to The Associated Press’s recently-released Economic Stress Index.
The index calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcy rates. A higher score indicates more stress, and a county is considered stressed when its score exceeds 11.
San Benito had a score of 22 in November, the most recent month for which data is available. It was the eighth most-stressed county in California, according to the index, with Imperial County earning the dubious No. 1 spot with a stress score of 33.15.
Other counties in the region among the nation’s top 20 were Merced (No. 6), San Joaquin (No. 8), Stanislaus (No. 11), Madera (No. 16), and Fresno (No. 17). The index ranks counties with a population of at least 25,000.
California’s overall stress index score was 16.42 in November, putting it behind Nevada and Florida in the top 3. Nevada has had the highest stress score in the country since March 2008.
San Benito County’s November stress score was up 3.23 points from October and was more than 8 points higher than neighboring Santa Clara County and about 6 points above Monterey County. San Benito’s stress score in Oct. 2007, when economists say the recession began, was 9.
The AP reported that higher unemployment and foreclosure rates, especially in South Atlantic and Mountain states, raised the nation’s economic stress in November. One month after it reached an 18-month low nationally, it rose in three-quarters of the 3,141 counties the AP analyzed, as well as in 39 states.
Nearly 40 percent of the nation’s counties were deemed stressed in the index, up from a little more than one-third in October, the AP reported. While the national unemployment rate slipped from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent in December, the economy added approximately 1.1 million jobs in 2010, far fewer than are normally created during a recession, according to the AP.
