Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in June. Overall, 19 states registered over-the-month unemployment rate increases, 17 states recorded decreases, and 14 states and the District of Columbia had no changes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Over the year, jobless rates declined in 27 states and the District of Columbia, rose in 18 states, and were unchanged in 5 states. The national unemployment rate was unchanged in June at 4.5 percent.


In June, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 7 states, and remained unchanged in 2 states. The largest employment increases were recorded in Illinois (+12,400), North Carolina (+11,400), New York (+10,100), and Ohio (+9,600). Alaska posted the largest over-the-month percentage increase in employment (+1.0 percent), followed by Utah (+0.7 percent), Kansas and Vermont (+0.6 percent each), and New Hampshire (+0.5 percent). The largest employment decreases occurred in Maryland (-11,600), Missouri (-6,600), South Carolina (-4,600), Kentucky (-2,200), and Nebraska (-2,100). Maryland experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decline in employment (-0.4 percent), followed by Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina (-0.2 percent each). Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia and decreased in 2 states. The largest over-the-year percentage gains in employment were reported in Utah (+4.8 percent), Arizona (+3.2 percent), Wyoming (+3.1 percent), and Louisiana (+2.9 percent). Over-the-year percentage declines in employment occurred in Michigan (-1.3 percent) and Ohio (-0.1 percent).

Regional Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

The South again posted the lowest jobless rate among the regions, 4.2 percent in June, while the Midwest continued to record the highest rate, 5.3 percent. The Midwest also registered the only statistically significant unemployment rate change from May (+0.2 percentage point). Over the year, the South reported the only significant unemployment rate decrease (-0.3 percentage point), while the Midwest had the only significant increase (+0.4 point).

Among the nine geographic divisions, the Mountain continued to report the lowest unemployment rate, 3.4 percent in June. The East North Central again posted the highest jobless rate, 5.7 percent. No division had a statistically significant over-the-month jobless rate change, but 6 of the 9 divisions recorded measurable changes from a year earlier. The East South Central, Mountain, and West South Central divisions registered the largest significant over-the-year rate decreases (-0.6 percentage point each), followed by the Middle Atlantic (-0.3 point). The East North Central and West North Central divisions had the only significant rate increases from June 2006 (+0.4 and +0.3 percentage point, respectively).

State Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

In June, Hawaii and Montana recorded the lowest unemployment rates, 2.4 percent each, followed by Idaho at 2.5 percent and Utah at 2.6 percent. No other state registered a rate below 3.0 percent. Two states reported the lowest jobless rates in their series in June--Arizona (3.4 percent) and New Mexico (3.2 percent). (All state series begin in 1976.) Michigan again recorded the highest unemployment rate, 7.2 percent in June. Ohio at 6.1 percent and Mississippi at 6.0 percent had the next highest rates. Overall, 18 states posted unemployment rates that were significantly below the U.S. rate of 4.5 percent, 7 states and the District of Columbia reported measurably higher rates, and 25 states had rates that were statistically little different from that of the nation.

Louisiana registered the largest over-the-month unemployment rate decline in June (-1.0 percentage point). The only other states with statistically significant decreases were Tennessee (-0.6 percentage point), New Mexico (-0.5 point), and South Dakota (-0.2 point). The only states reporting significant over-the-month jobless rate increases were Ohio (+0.4 percentage point) and Idaho (+0.2 point). The remaining 44 states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rates that were not appreciably different from those of a month earlier, even though some had changes that were at least as large numerically as those with statistically significant changes.

Tennessee experienced the largest over-the-year jobless rate decline in June (-1.2 percentage points), followed by New Mexico (-1.1 points) and South Carolina (-1.0 point). Sixteen additional states had smaller, but also statistically significant, rate decreases. Nine states reported statistically significant overthe-year rate increases. The largest of these occurred in Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio (+0.7 percentage point each) and New Hampshire (+0.6 point). The remaining 22 states and the District of Columbia had rates that were not appreciably different from those of June 2006.

Nonfarm Payroll Employment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Between May and June, five states reported statistically significant changes in employment, four of which were increases. The gains were in North Carolina (+11,400), Utah (+8,900), Kansas (+7,700), and Alaska (+3,200). The statistically significant employment decline occurred in Maryland (-11,600).

Over the year, 32 states and the District of Columbia posted statistically significant changes in employment. All but one reported gains in employment. The largest employment gains occurred in Texas (+213,500), California (+204,700), and Florida (+117,200). The statistically significant over-the-year decline was reported in Michigan (-54,400). Six states and the District of Columbia recorded statistically significant gains in employment that were less than 15,000: Hawaii (+14,800), Nebraska (+14,400), the District of Columbia (+10,400), South Dakota (+10,200), Montana and Wyoming (+8,600 each), and North Dakota (+6,800).