Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in October. Overall, 22 states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, 17 states registered decreases, and 11 states had no changes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Over the year, jobless rates were down in 25 states and the District of Columbia and up in 25 states. The national unemployment rate was unchanged in October at 4.7 percent.


In October, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 31 states and the District of Columbia, increased in 17 states, and remained unchanged in 2 states. The largest employment decreases were recorded in Michigan (-22,400), California (-15,800), Arizona (-14,900), Virginia (-8,900), and Illinois (-7,000). Arizona and Michigan posted the largest over-the-month percentage declines in employment (-0.5 percent each), followed by Alaska and Hawaii (-0.4 percent each), Nevada (-0.3 percent), and Alabama, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, and Virginia (-0.2 percent each). Texas posted the largest over-the-month increase in employment(+24,200), followed by Florida (+9,700), North Carolina (+8,600), New York (+8,100),and Washington (+8,000). Washington reported the largest over-the-month percentage increase in employment (+0.3 percent), followed by North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming (+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 (+4.2 percent), Montana and Wyoming (+3.4 percent each), Louisiana (+2.2 percent), and Colorado (+2.1 percent). The two states reporting over-the-year declines in employment were Michigan (-1.7 percent) and Ohio (-0.2 percent).

Regional Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

In October, the Midwest continued to report the highest unemployment rate among the regions, 5.4 percent. The South again registered the lowest rate, 4.4 percent. No region recorded an unemployment rate change from a month earlier. The Midwest and West had the only statistically significant over-the-year jobless rate changes (+0.5 and +0.3 percentage point, respectively).

Among the nine geographic divisions, the East North Central again reported the highest jobless rate, 5.8 percent in October, while the Mountain division continued to record the lowest rate, 3.5 percent. The West South Central division registered the only statistically significant unemployment rate change over the month (-0.3 percentage point). The Pacific and East North Central divisions posted the largest jobless rate increases from a year earlier (+0.7 and +0.6 percentage point, respectively). The South Atlantic was the only other division to record a significant over-the-year rate increase (+0.3 percentage point). The West South Central and Mountain divisions recorded the only signi-
ficant over-the-year rate decreases (-0.4 and -0.3 percentage point, respectively).

State Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

In October, Michigan again reported the highest unemployment rate, 7.7 percent, followed by Alaska and Mississippi at 6.1 percent each. Idaho continued to record the lowest jobless rate, 2.5 percent. Four additional states had rates below 3.0 percent in October: Hawaii at 2.7 percent, Utah at 2.8 percent, and South Dakota and Wyoming at 2.9 percent each. Two states posted the lowest jobless rates in their series-Alabama and New Mexico (3.1 percent each). (All state series begin in 1976.) Overall, 22 states registered unemployment rates that were significantly below the U.S. rate (4.7 percent), 10 states and the District of Columbia recorded measurably higher rates, and 18 states had rates that were statistically little different from that of the nation.

Delaware registered the largest over-the-month unemployment rate increase in October (+0.4 percentage point). Florida, Idaho, and Montana also recorded statistically significant unemployment rate increases from September (+0.2 percentage point each). Three states had significant over-the-month jobless rate decreases: Louisiana (-1.1 percentage points), Kansas (-0.7 point), and Alabama (-0.6 point). The remaining 43 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 the significant changes.

In October, Illinois reported the largest jobless rate increase from a year earlier (+1.2 percentage points). Twelve additional states recorded smaller, but also statistically significant, rate increases. Fourteen states registered statistically significant over-the-year unemployment rate decreases. The largest of these occurred in Louisiana (-1.0 percentage point). The remaining 23 states and the District of Columbia had jobless rates that were not appreciably different from those of October 2006.

Nonfarm Payroll Employment (Seasonally Adjusted)

For October, two states reported statistically significant over-the-month changes in nonfarm payroll employment, both of which were decreases. Those statistically significant decreases were in Michigan (-22,400) and Arizona (-14,900).

Over the 12 months ending in October, 29 states posted statistically significant changes in employment; all but one of these had gains in employment. The largest statistically significant employment gains occurred in Texas (+206,400), Florida (+111,000), and California (+109,000). The statistically significant over-the-year employment decline was reported in Michigan (-75,000). Seven states recorded sta-
tistically significant gains in employment that were less than 15,000: Montana (+14,600), Nebraska (+13,300), Idaho (+11,700), Hawaii (+11,600), Wyoming (+9,400), South Dakota (+6,800), and North Dakota (+5,200).