by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2012 12:50:00 PM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in February. Twenty-nine states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 8 states posted rate increases, and 13 states and the District of Columbia had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, while only one state experienced an increase.
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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.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). Every state has some blue - indicating no state is currently at the maximum during the recession.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate. Only three states still have double digit unemployment rates: Nevada, Rhode Island, and California. This is the fewest since January 2009. In early 2010, 18 states and D.C. had double digit unemployment rates.

All current employment graphs