U.S. State Unemployment Rates Fall To New Lows

The overall U.S. unemployment rate in December of 5.6% stood at its six-year low and remained down from 10.0% at the late-2009 peak. Variation in the level of unemployment amongst individual states continues, but a declining trend is evident almost everywhere. Louisiana (6.7%), South Carolina (6.5%), Washington (6.3), Vermont (4.2%) and North Dakota (2.8%), however, are notable examples where unemployment recently moved higher. Louisiana's unemployment rate, in fact, is up two percentage points since April. Mississippi's jobless rate of 7.2% was the country's highest, though it was down from 11.0% reached in early-2011. California's 7.0% also was comparatively high, but it was below the 2010 peak of 12.4%. Unemployment in Georgia remained elevated at 6.9%, but that too was below the 10.4% peak in early-2010. In Tennessee, last month's 6.6% rate neared its earlier low after backing up to 7.4% in August. Both rates compare favorably to the 2009 high of 11.0%. New York's unemployment rate of 5.8% compared to the 2009 peak of 8.9% and its rate of decline recently accelerated. The jobless rate in Texas was down to 4.6% from its 2010 high of 8.3%.

Amongst mid-sized states, Michigan's jobless rate fell to 6.3% after hovering near 7.5% this spring and summer. It's less than half the 14.2% peak in 2009. Florida's 5.6% rate of joblessness was a new low and compared to 11.4% at the 2009 peak. In Virginia, the jobless rate returned to 4.8% last month after backing up to 5.5% this summer. It was below the 7.4% peak reached late in 2009. Amongst smaller states, North Dakota's 2.8% unemployment rate was the country's lowest but up from its recent low of 2.5%. Connecticut saw its rate move downward to 6.4% from a 9.5% high. Nebraska's rate fell sharply to a new low of 2.9% versus its 4.9% peak early in 2010.

The unemployment rate figures in individual metropolitan areas, for the most part, continued to differ widely from the state numbers. Florida's 5.6% unemployment rate was below the 6.7% rate in the Miami metro area, and both were roughly half the 2010 figure. Michigan's 6.3% unemployment rate also was under the 7.5% figure around Detroit and both rates recently fell sharply. In 2009, Detroit's rate reached 16.0%. New York state's 5.8% unemployment rate was below the sharply reduced 6.3% in New York City while California's 7.0% rate was under the 7.9% around Los Angeles. Also, Ohio's 4.8% rate was well below Cleveland's of 5.9%. Working the other way, the Illinois unemployment rate of 6.2% was above the sharply reduced 5.9% around Chicago. Finally, Washington state's 6.3% jobless rate recently moved higher and exceeded Seattle's 4.6%, a new low.

State unemployment figures are available in Haver's EMPLR database.