by Calculated Risk on 6/15/2012 11:47:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in May. Eighteen states recorded unemployment rate increases, 14 states and the District of Columbia posted rate decreases, and 18 states 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, 11.6 percent in May [down from 11.7% in April]. Rhode Island and California posted the next highest rates, 11.0 and 10.8 percent, respectively [down from 11.2% and 10.9%]. North Dakota again registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.0 percent, followed by Nebraska, 3.9 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.

It appears some of the "sand states", with the largest housing bubbles, are starting to see faster declines in the unemployment rate (Arizona, Florida, California and Nevada).


All current employment graphs