BLS: Unemployment Rates Lower in 7 states in February; California, Maine, Mississippi and Wisconsin at New Series Lows

Earlier from the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Unemployment rates were lower in February in 7 states and stable in 43 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Fifteen states had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier and 35 states and the District had little or no change. The national unemployment rate was unchanged from January at 4.1 percent but was 0.6 percentage point lower than in February 2017.
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Hawaii had the lowest unemployment rate in February, 2.1 percent. The rates in California (4.3 percent), Maine (2.9 percent), Mississippi (4.5 percent), and Wisconsin (2.9 percent) set new series lows. (All state series begin in 1976.) Alaska had the highest jobless rate, 7.3 percent.
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Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). All states are well below the maximum unemployment rate for the recession.

The size of the blue bar indicates the amount of improvement.   The yellow squares are the lowest unemployment rate per state since 1976.

Thirteen states have reached new all time lows since the end of the 2007 recession.  These thirteen states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate. Alaska, at 7.3%, had the highest state unemployment rate.

The second graph shows the number of states (and D.C.) with unemployment rates at or above certain levels since January 2006. At the worst of the employment recession, there were 11 states with an unemployment rate at or above 11% (red).

Currently one state, Alaska, has an unemployment rate at or above 7% (light blue); And only Alaska is above 6% (dark blue).