For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Friday, April 16, 2021 USDL-21-0654
Technical information:
Employment: sminfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/sae
Unemployment: lausinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/lau
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- MARCH 2021
Unemployment rates were lower in March in 20 states and the District of Columbia and
stable in 30 states, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty states
and the District had jobless rate increases from a year earlier and 10 states had little
or no change. The national unemployment rate, 6.0 percent, edged down by 0.2 percentage
point over the month, but was 1.6 points higher than in March 2020.
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 29 states and was essentially unchanged in 21
states and the District of Columbia in March 2021. Over the year, nonfarm payroll
employment decreased in 46 states and the District and was essentially unchanged in 4
states.
This news release presents statistics from two monthly programs. The civilian labor
force and unemployment data are modeled based largely on a survey of households. These
data pertain to individuals by where they reside. The employment data are from an
establishment survey that measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry.
These data pertain to jobs on payrolls defined by where the establishments are located.
For more information about the concepts and statistical methodologies used by these two
programs, see the Technical Note.
Unemployment
Hawaii and New York had the highest unemployment rates in March, 9.0 percent and 8.5
percent, respectively. Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont had the lowest rates,
2.9 percent each. In total, 27 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure
of 6.0 percent, 11 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 12 states
had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation. (See tables A
and 1.)
In March, North Carolina had the largest over-the-month unemployment rate decrease
(-0.5 percentage point), followed by New York and North Dakota (-0.4 point each). Thirty
states had jobless rates that were not notably different from those of a month earlier,
though some had changes that were at least as large numerically as the significant
changes. (See table B.)
The largest unemployment rate increase from March 2020 occurred in Hawaii (+6.9
percentage points). The next largest over-the-year jobless rate increases were in New
York (+4.6 percentage points) and Connecticut (+4.5 points), with another five states
experiencing rate increases of at least 3.0 points. (See table C.)
Nonfarm Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 29 states and was essentially unchanged in 21
states and the District of Columbia in March 2021. The largest job gains occurred in
California (+119,600), Texas (+99,000), and New York (+63,700). The largest percentage
increases occurred in New Mexico (+1.3 percent), Oregon (+1.1 percent), and Hawaii, Iowa,
and Oklahoma (+1.0 percent each). (See tables D and 3.)
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 46 states and the District of
Columbia and was essentially unchanged in 4 states. The largest job declines occurred in
California (-1,350,500), New York (-880,800), and Florida (-445,800). The largest
percentage declines occurred in Hawaii (-16.0 percent), Nevada (-9.4 percent), and New
York (-9.1 percent). (See table E.)
_____________
The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment news release for March is scheduled to
be released on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The State Employment and
Unemployment news release for April is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 21, 2021,
at 10:00 a.m. (ET).
_______________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on March 2021 |
| Establishment and Household Survey Data |
| |
| BLS has continued to review all estimation and methodological procedures for the |
| establishment survey, which included the review of data, estimation processes, the |
| application of the birth-death model, and seasonal adjustment. Business births and |
| deaths cannot be adequately captured by the establishment survey as they occur. |
| Therefore, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program uses a model to account |
| for the relatively stable net employment change generated by business births and |
| deaths. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the relationship between business births and |
| deaths is no longer stable. Typically, reports with zero employment are not included |
| in estimation. For the February final and March preliminary estimates, CES included a |
| portion of these reports in the estimates and made modifications to the birth-death |
| model. In addition for both months, the establishment survey included a portion of |
| the reports that returned to reporting positive employment from reporting zero |
| employment. For more information, see www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm. |
| |
| In the establishment survey, workers who are paid by their employer for all or any |
| part of the pay period including the 12th of the month are counted as employed, even |
| if they were not actually at their jobs. Workers who are temporarily or permanently |
| absent from their jobs and are not being paid are not counted as employed, even if |
| they are continuing to receive benefits. The length of the reference period does vary |
| across the respondents in the establishment survey; one-third of businesses have a |
| weekly pay period, slightly over 40 percent a bi-weekly, about 20 percent semi- |
| monthly, and a small amount monthly. |
| |
| For the March 2021 estimates of household employment and unemployment from the Local |
| Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, BLS continued to implement level-shift |
| outliers in the employment and/or unemployment inputs to the models, based on |
| statistical evaluation of movements in each area's inputs. Both the Current |
| Population Survey inputs, which serve as the primary inputs to the LAUS models, and |
| the nonfarm payroll employment and unemployment insurance claims covariates were |
| examined for outliers. The resulting implementation of level shifts preserved |
| movements in the published estimates that the models otherwise would have discounted, |
| without requiring changes to how the models create estimates at other points in the |
| time series. |
| |
| The "Frequently asked questions" document at |
| www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-march-2021.htm extensively |
| discusses the impact of a misclassification in the household survey on the national |
| estimates for March 2021. Despite the considerable decline in its degree relative to |
| prior months, this misclassification continued to be widespread geographically, with |
| BLS analysis indicating that most states again were affected to at least some extent. |
| However, according to usual practice, the data from the household survey are accepted |
| as recorded. To maintain data integrity, no ad hoc actions are taken to reclassify |
| survey responses. Hence, the household survey estimates of employed and unemployed |
| people that serve as the primary inputs to the state models were affected to varying |
| degrees by the misclassification, which in turn affected the official LAUS estimates |
| for March 2021. |
| |
| Household data for Puerto Rico are not modeled, but rather are derived from a monthly |
| household survey similar to the Current Population Survey. Due to the effects of the |
| pandemic and efforts to contain the virus, Puerto Rico had not been able to conduct |
| its household survey for March or April 2020. Since data collection resumed effective |
| May 2020, the Puerto Rico Department of Labor has reported a misclassification in its |
| household survey similar in nature to the misclassification in the Current Population |
| Survey. |
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|
Table A. States with unemployment rates significantly different
from that of the U.S., March 2021, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------
State | Rate(p)
--------------------------------------------------------------
United States (1) ...................| 6.0
|
Alabama .............................| 3.8
Arkansas ............................| 4.4
California ..........................| 8.3
Connecticut .........................| 8.3
District of Columbia ................| 7.8
Florida .............................| 4.7
Georgia .............................| 4.5
Hawaii ..............................| 9.0
Idaho ...............................| 3.2
Illinois ............................| 7.1
|
Indiana .............................| 3.9
Iowa ................................| 3.7
Kansas ..............................| 3.7
Kentucky ............................| 5.0
Louisiana ...........................| 7.3
Maine ...............................| 4.8
Michigan ............................| 5.1
Minnesota ...........................| 4.2
Missouri ............................| 4.2
Montana .............................| 3.8
|
Nebraska ............................| 2.9
Nevada ..............................| 8.1
New Hampshire .......................| 3.0
New Jersey ..........................| 7.7
New Mexico ..........................| 8.3
New York ............................| 8.5
North Carolina ......................| 5.2
North Dakota ........................| 4.4
Ohio ................................| 4.7
Oklahoma ............................| 4.2
|
Pennsylvania ........................| 7.3
South Carolina ......................| 5.1
South Dakota ........................| 2.9
Tennessee ...........................| 5.0
Texas ...............................| 6.9
Utah ................................| 2.9
Vermont .............................| 2.9
Virginia ............................| 5.1
Wisconsin ...........................| 3.8
--------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Data are not preliminary.
(p) = preliminary.
Table B. States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes
from February 2021 to March 2021, seasonally adjusted
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rate |
|-----------|-----------| Over-the-month
State | February | March | change(p)
| 2021 | 2021(p) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ........................| 4.0 | 3.8 | -0.2
Arizona ........................| 6.9 | 6.7 | -.2
California .....................| 8.5 | 8.3 | -.2
District of Columbia ...........| 8.1 | 7.8 | -.3
Georgia ........................| 4.8 | 4.5 | -.3
Illinois .......................| 7.4 | 7.1 | -.3
Louisiana ......................| 7.6 | 7.3 | -.3
Massachusetts ..................| 7.0 | 6.8 | -.2
Minnesota ......................| 4.4 | 4.2 | -.2
Montana ........................| 3.9 | 3.8 | -.1
| | |
Nebraska .......................| 3.1 | 2.9 | -.2
Nevada .........................| 8.4 | 8.1 | -.3
New Hampshire ..................| 3.3 | 3.0 | -.3
New York .......................| 8.9 | 8.5 | -.4
North Carolina .................| 5.7 | 5.2 | -.5
North Dakota ...................| 4.8 | 4.4 | -.4
Ohio ...........................| 5.0 | 4.7 | -.3
South Dakota ...................| 3.0 | 2.9 | -.1
Utah ...........................| 3.0 | 2.9 | -.1
Washington .....................| 5.6 | 5.4 | -.2
West Virginia ..................| 6.2 | 5.9 | -.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table C. States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes
from March 2020 to March 2021, seasonally adjusted
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rate |
|-----------|-----------| Over-the-year
State | March | March | change(p)
| 2020 | 2021(p) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ........................| 2.6 | 3.8 | 1.2
Alaska .........................| 5.1 | 6.6 | 1.5
Arizona ........................| 5.0 | 6.7 | 1.7
Arkansas .......................| 3.9 | 4.4 | .5
California .....................| 4.5 | 8.3 | 3.8
Colorado .......................| 4.7 | 6.4 | 1.7
Connecticut ....................| 3.8 | 8.3 | 4.5
Delaware .......................| 4.8 | 6.5 | 1.7
District of Columbia ...........| 5.2 | 7.8 | 2.6
Georgia ........................| 3.6 | 4.5 | .9
| | |
Hawaii .........................| 2.1 | 9.0 | 6.9
Idaho ..........................| 2.7 | 3.2 | .5
Illinois .......................| 3.7 | 7.1 | 3.4
Indiana ........................| 3.3 | 3.9 | .6
Iowa ...........................| 2.9 | 3.7 | .8
Kansas .........................| 3.2 | 3.7 | .5
Kentucky .......................| 4.2 | 5.0 | .8
Louisiana ......................| 5.3 | 7.3 | 2.0
Maine ..........................| 3.1 | 4.8 | 1.7
Maryland .......................| 3.5 | 6.2 | 2.7
| | |
Massachusetts ..................| 2.7 | 6.8 | 4.1
Michigan .......................| 3.7 | 5.1 | 1.4
Minnesota ......................| 3.5 | 4.2 | .7
Missouri .......................| 3.7 | 4.2 | .5
Nevada .........................| 6.4 | 8.1 | 1.7
New Jersey .....................| 3.8 | 7.7 | 3.9
New Mexico .....................| 5.4 | 8.3 | 2.9
New York .......................| 3.9 | 8.5 | 4.6
North Carolina .................| 3.9 | 5.2 | 1.3
North Dakota ...................| 2.3 | 4.4 | 2.1
| | |
Oklahoma .......................| 3.2 | 4.2 | 1.0
Oregon .........................| 3.6 | 6.0 | 2.4
Pennsylvania ...................| 5.1 | 7.3 | 2.2
Rhode Island ...................| 4.0 | 7.1 | 3.1
South Carolina .................| 3.0 | 5.1 | 2.1
Tennessee ......................| 4.0 | 5.0 | 1.0
Texas ..........................| 4.9 | 6.9 | 2.0
Utah ...........................| 2.5 | 2.9 | .4
Virginia .......................| 2.6 | 5.1 | 2.5
West Virginia ..................| 5.3 | 5.9 | .6
Wisconsin ......................| 3.2 | 3.8 | .6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table D. States with statistically significant employment changes from
February 2021 to March 2021, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | Over-the-month change(p)
State | February | March |---------------------------
| 2021 | 2021(p) | Level | Percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arizona ......................| 2,876,300 | 2,888,500 | 12,200 | 0.4
California ...................| 16,014,000 | 16,133,600 | 119,600 | .7
Florida ......................| 8,521,400 | 8,553,600 | 32,200 | .4
Georgia ......................| 4,464,200 | 4,486,000 | 21,800 | .5
Hawaii .......................| 545,100 | 550,400 | 5,300 | 1.0
Illinois .....................| 5,697,800 | 5,730,000 | 32,200 | .6
Iowa .........................| 1,510,800 | 1,525,900 | 15,100 | 1.0
Kansas .......................| 1,360,200 | 1,373,000 | 12,800 | .9
Maine ........................| 605,500 | 609,600 | 4,100 | .7
Maryland .....................| 2,615,000 | 2,628,100 | 13,100 | .5
| | | |
Massachusetts ................| 3,413,900 | 3,426,700 | 12,800 | .4
Michigan .....................| 4,117,400 | 4,132,800 | 15,400 | .4
Minnesota ....................| 2,783,600 | 2,805,200 | 21,600 | .8
Missouri .....................| 2,796,500 | 2,811,900 | 15,400 | .6
Montana ......................| 478,000 | 482,000 | 4,000 | .8
Nebraska .....................| 1,002,100 | 1,008,100 | 6,000 | .6
New Hampshire ................| 652,800 | 657,500 | 4,700 | .7
New Jersey ...................| 3,876,500 | 3,897,300 | 20,800 | .5
New Mexico ...................| 783,600 | 794,100 | 10,500 | 1.3
New York .....................| 8,784,100 | 8,847,800 | 63,700 | .7
| | | |
North Carolina ...............| 4,452,300 | 4,469,600 | 17,300 | .4
North Dakota .................| 412,500 | 415,900 | 3,400 | .8
Oklahoma .....................| 1,612,000 | 1,627,600 | 15,600 | 1.0
Oregon .......................| 1,820,500 | 1,840,600 | 20,100 | 1.1
Pennsylvania .................| 5,654,500 | 5,678,500 | 24,000 | .4
Tennessee ....................| 3,039,500 | 3,054,900 | 15,400 | .5
Texas ........................| 12,401,800 | 12,500,800 | 99,000 | .8
Washington ...................| 3,301,500 | 3,330,200 | 28,700 | .9
Wisconsin ....................| 2,836,900 | 2,849,800 | 12,900 | .5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table E. States with statistically significant employment changes from
March 2020 to March 2021, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | Over-the-year change(p)
State | March | March |---------------------------
| 2020 | 2021(p) | Level | Percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ......................| 2,077,700 | 2,022,400 | -55,300 | -2.7
Alaska .......................| 328,700 | 304,800 | -23,900 | -7.3
Arizona ......................| 2,976,200 | 2,888,500 | -87,700 | -2.9
Arkansas .....................| 1,287,800 | 1,261,700 | -26,100 | -2.0
California ...................| 17,484,100 | 16,133,600 | -1,350,500 | -7.7
Colorado .....................| 2,806,700 | 2,672,800 | -133,900 | -4.8
Connecticut ..................| 1,683,300 | 1,580,300 | -103,000 | -6.1
Delaware .....................| 465,200 | 445,200 | -20,000 | -4.3
District of Columbia .........| 798,300 | 731,900 | -66,400 | -8.3
Florida ......................| 8,999,400 | 8,553,600 | -445,800 | -5.0
| | | |
Georgia ......................| 4,637,000 | 4,486,000 | -151,000 | -3.3
Hawaii .......................| 655,200 | 550,400 | -104,800 | -16.0
Illinois .....................| 6,090,700 | 5,730,000 | -360,700 | -5.9
Indiana ......................| 3,138,400 | 3,031,900 | -106,500 | -3.4
Iowa .........................| 1,584,300 | 1,525,900 | -58,400 | -3.7
Kansas .......................| 1,421,900 | 1,373,000 | -48,900 | -3.4
Kentucky .....................| 1,945,300 | 1,861,000 | -84,300 | -4.3
Louisiana ....................| 1,971,100 | 1,837,800 | -133,300 | -6.8
Maine ........................| 636,600 | 609,600 | -27,000 | -4.2
Maryland .....................| 2,749,700 | 2,628,100 | -121,600 | -4.4
| | | |
Massachusetts ................| 3,699,400 | 3,426,700 | -272,700 | -7.4
Michigan .....................| 4,414,700 | 4,132,800 | -281,900 | -6.4
Minnesota ....................| 2,978,100 | 2,805,200 | -172,900 | -5.8
Mississippi ..................| 1,156,500 | 1,122,700 | -33,800 | -2.9
Missouri .....................| 2,912,400 | 2,811,900 | -100,500 | -3.5
Nebraska .....................| 1,026,200 | 1,008,100 | -18,100 | -1.8
Nevada .......................| 1,431,000 | 1,296,200 | -134,800 | -9.4
New Hampshire ................| 681,900 | 657,500 | -24,400 | -3.6
New Jersey ...................| 4,197,200 | 3,897,300 | -299,900 | -7.1
New Mexico ...................| 859,100 | 794,100 | -65,000 | -7.6
| | | |
New York .....................| 9,728,600 | 8,847,800 | -880,800 | -9.1
North Carolina ...............| 4,600,000 | 4,469,600 | -130,400 | -2.8
North Dakota .................| 438,700 | 415,900 | -22,800 | -5.2
Ohio .........................| 5,558,100 | 5,314,900 | -243,200 | -4.4
Oklahoma .....................| 1,692,300 | 1,627,600 | -64,700 | -3.8
Oregon .......................| 1,958,400 | 1,840,600 | -117,800 | -6.0
Pennsylvania .................| 6,047,700 | 5,678,500 | -369,200 | -6.1
Rhode Island .................| 502,000 | 466,900 | -35,100 | -7.0
South Carolina ...............| 2,184,300 | 2,117,700 | -66,600 | -3.0
Tennessee ....................| 3,139,200 | 3,054,900 | -84,300 | -2.7
| | | |
Texas ........................| 12,906,000 | 12,500,800 | -405,200 | -3.1
Vermont ......................| 312,400 | 288,700 | -23,700 | -7.6
Virginia .....................| 4,069,600 | 3,887,600 | -182,000 | -4.5
Washington ...................| 3,497,600 | 3,330,200 | -167,400 | -4.8
West Virginia ................| 714,100 | 681,400 | -32,700 | -4.6
Wisconsin ....................| 2,978,800 | 2,849,800 | -129,000 | -4.3
Wyoming ......................| 287,900 | 274,800 | -13,100 | -4.6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
United States Department of Labor
