The Bureau of Labor Statistics not only publishes the nationwide employment data each month, but the agency also breaks the numbers down by region and by state.
Click here for the current BLS release.
An excerpt:
Nevada continued to record the highest unemployment rate among the states,
12.3 percent in February. Rhode Island and California posted the next
highest rates, 11.0 and 10.9 percent, respectively. North Dakota again
registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.1 percent, followed by Nebraska,
4.0 percent. In total, 23 states reported jobless rates significantly
lower than the U.S. figure of 8.3 percent, 6 states and the District
of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 21 states had rates that
were not appreciably different from that of the nation.
(See tables A and 3.)Mississippi and Nevada experienced the largest over-the-month
unemployment rate declines in February (-0.5 and -0.4 percentage
point, respectively). Five other states also had statistically
significant rate decreases: Illinois, Indiana, Montana, and North
Carolina (-0.3 percentage point each) and Florida (-0.2 point). The
only significant rate increase was recorded in New York (+0.2 percentage
point). The remaining 42 states and the District of Columbia recorded
jobless rates that were not measurably different from those of a month
earlier, though some had changes that were at least as large numerically
as the significant changes.
As you can see in Calculated Risk’s graph below, Georgia has the 8th worst unemployment rate (if we include the District of Columbia). It’s also worth noting, of course, that nearly all states are now down significantly from their peaks in recent years. So good news generally, but we have a long, long way to go.
