by Calculated Risk on 6/17/2011 10:45:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in May. Twenty-four states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 13 states and the District of Columbia registered rate increases, and 13 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, 12.1 percent in May. California recorded the next highest rate, 11.7 percent. North Dakota reported the lowest jobless rate, 3.2 percent ...

Nevada recorded the largest jobless rate decrease from May 2010 (-2.8 percentage points). Two other states had rate decreases of more than 2.0 percentage points -- Michigan (-2.5 points) and Indiana (-2.2 points).

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 May, but still has the highest state unemployment rate.

One state is still at the recession maximum (no improvement): Louisiana. Every other state has seen some improvement and only seven states have double digit unemployment now (19 states had double digit unemployment during the worst of the great recession).