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West Virginia has highest unemployment rate among the states in August 2015

September 25, 2015

Among U.S. states and the District of Columbia, West Virginia had the highest unemployment rate in August 2015, at 7.6 percent. Nebraska (2.8 percent) and North Dakota (2.9 percent) had the lowest jobless rates.

Unemployment rates for states and the District of Columbia, seasonally adjusted, August 2015


6.0% and higher
 
5.4% to 5.9%
 
4.7% to 5.3%
 
4.1% to 4.6%
 
4.0% and lower
 
Hover over a state to see data.
Hover over legend items to see states in a category.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment rates for states and the District of Columbia, seasonally adjusted, August 2015
State August 2015 rate(p) August 2014 rate Over the year change Statistically significant change?

Alabama

 6.2% 6.5% -0.3 No

Alaska

 6.6 6.9 -0.3 No

Arizona

 6.3 6.7 -0.4 No

Arkansas

 5.4 5.9 -0.5 No

California

 6.1 7.4 -1.3 Yes

Colorado

 4.2 4.6 -0.4 No

Connecticut

 5.3 6.4 -1.1 Yes

Delaware

 4.9 5.7 -0.8 Yes

District of Columbia

 6.8 7.8 -1.0 Yes

Florida

 5.3 5.9 -0.6 No

Georgia

 5.9 7.1 -1.2 Yes

Hawaii

 3.5 4.3 -0.8 Yes

Idaho

 4.2 4.8 -0.6 Yes

Illinois

 5.6 6.5 -0.9 Yes

Indiana

 4.6 5.8 -1.2 Yes

Iowa

 3.7 4.3 -0.6 Yes

Kansas

 4.6 4.3 0.3 No

Kentucky

 5.2 6.0 -0.8 No

Louisiana

 6.0 6.7 -0.7 No

Maine

 4.5 5.6 -1.1 Yes

Maryland

 5.1 5.7 -0.6 Yes

Massachusetts

 4.7 5.6 -0.9 Yes

Michigan

 5.1 6.8 -1.7 Yes

Minnesota

 4.0 3.7 0.3 No

Mississippi

 6.3 7.4 -1.1 Yes

Missouri

 5.6 5.7 -0.1 No

Montana

 4.1 4.6 -0.5 No

Nebraska

 2.8 3.2 -0.4 Yes

Nevada

 6.8 7.5 -0.7 No

New Hampshire

 3.6 4.2 -0.6 Yes

New Jersey

 5.7 6.4 -0.7 Yes

New Mexico

 6.7 6.4 0.3 No

New York

 5.2 6.0 -0.8 Yes

North Carolina

 5.9 6.0 -0.1 No

North Dakota

 2.9 2.7 0.2 No

Ohio

 4.7 5.4 -0.7 Yes

Oklahoma

 4.6 4.3 0.3 No

Oregon

 6.1 6.9 -0.8 Yes

Pennsylvania

 5.4 5.4 0.0 No

Rhode Island

 5.6 7.4 -1.8 Yes

South Carolina

 6.0 6.5 -0.5 No

South Dakota

 3.7 3.3 0.4 No

Tennessee

 5.7 6.6 -0.9 No

Texas

 4.1 4.9 -0.8 Yes

Utah

 3.7 3.7 0.0 No

Vermont

 3.6 4.1 -0.5 Yes

Virginia

 4.5 5.0 -0.5 No

Washington

 5.3 6.2 -0.9 Yes

West Virginia

 7.6 6.4 1.2 Yes

Wisconsin

 4.5 5.3 -0.8 Yes

Wyoming

 4.0 4.4 -0.4 No
Footnotes:

(p) Preliminary.

Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia had statistically significant unemployment rate declines from August 2014 to August 2015. The largest over-the-year declines occurred in Rhode Island (–1.8 percentage points) and Michigan (–1.7 percentage points). West Virginia had the only statistically significant over-the-year increase in the unemployment rate (+1.2 percentage points). The remaining 24 states had rates that were not significantly different from those of a year earlier.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see “Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — August 2015” (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, West Virginia has highest unemployment rate among the states in August 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/west-virginia-has-highest-unemployment-rate-among-the-states-in-august-2015.htm (visited April 18, 2024).

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