Mortgage Delinquency Nudges Up, Plus an Upper Valley Snapshot

By Jon Greenberg on Friday, August 21, 2009.

The week is ending with a sense of optimism about the economy. Nationally, existing home sales shot up over 7 percent and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been making some encouraging noises. NHPR’s Jon Greenberg has this round-up of the state’s economic news.

Looking at the numbers this week, we saw unemployment hold steady at 6.8 percent, unchanged from the month before. That’s about 3 points higher than a year ago but these days, things not getter worse is taken as good news. Communities in the south might have more to worry about. When unemployment in Massachusetts rises, New Hampshire border towns tend to feel it too. The jobless rate in Massachusetts rose 2 tenths to 8.8%.

The New Hampshire Business Review reported that mortgage delinquencies began edging up. That would be people who are late on their payments by 60 days or more. Long term unemployment has a hand in this as households run through their savings.

This week, we visited a company called Hypertherm in Hanover. We wanted to learn more about their no lay-off policy. We asked a few employees what they see going on in the economy.

HYPERVOX

A snapshot of life from some workers at Hypertherm in the Upper Valley.

Our story this week on job networking prompted Barbara in Rye to post a note on the Working It Out page. She set up a networking group at the Rye Public Library. They meet Monday’s at 10.

With this round up of the week’s economic news, I’m Jon Greenberg.