by Calculated Risk on 7/22/2011 10:00:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in June. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate increases, 8 states recorded rate decreases, and 14 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
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Nevada continued to register the highest unemployment rate among the states, 12.4 percent in June. California had the next highest rate, 11.8 percent. North Dakota reported the lowest jobless rate, 3.2 percent, followed by Nebraska, 4.1 percent ...

Nevada recorded the largest jobless rate decrease from June 2010 (-2.5 percentage points). Two other states had rate decreases of at least 2.0 percentage points--Michigan (-2.1 points) and Indiana (-2.0 points). Eleven additional states had smaller but also statistically significant decreases over the year. The remaining 36 states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rates that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.

The following graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). If there is no blue (only Louisiana in May), the state is currently at the maximum during the recession.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate.

Nevada saw the most improvement year-over-year in June, but still has the highest state unemployment rate.

Two states and D.C. are still at the recession maximum (no improvement): Arkansas and Montana. The fact that 36 states and the District of Columbia have seen little or no improvement over the last year is a reminder that the unemployment crisis is ongoing.