For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Friday, December 18, 2020 USDL-20-2267
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 -- NOVEMBER 2020
Unemployment rates were lower in November in 25 states and the District of Columbia,
higher in 7 states, and stable in 18 states, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Forty-eight states and the District had jobless rate increases from
a year earlier and two states had little change. The national unemployment rate edged
down by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 6.7 percent but was 3.2 points higher
than in November 2019.
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 17 states, decreased in 3 states, and was
essentially unchanged in 30 states and the District of Columbia in November 2020.
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 48 states and the District and
was essentially unchanged in 2 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
Three states had unemployment rates above 10.0 percent in November: New Jersey at 10.2
percent and Hawaii and Nevada at 10.1 percent each. Nebraska and Vermont had the lowest
rates, 3.1 percent each. In total, 26 states had jobless rates lower than the U.S.
figure of 6.7 percent, 11 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 13
states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.
(See tables A and 1.)
In November, the largest unemployment rate decrease occurred in Hawaii (-4.1 percentage
points). Rates declined over the month by at least 1.0 percentage point in an additional
seven states. The largest over-the-month jobless rate increases occurred in Alaska and
New Jersey (+2.2 percentage points each) and Connecticut (+2.1 points). Eighteen 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 November 2019 occurred in Hawaii (+7.5
percentage points). New Jersey and Nevada had the next largest over-the-year rate
increases (6.5 percentage points and 6.4 points, respectively), followed by Texas (+4.6
points), New York (+4.5 points), Connecticut (+4.4 points), and California (+4.3 points).
(See table C.)
Nonfarm Payroll Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 17 states, decreased in 3 states, and was
essentially unchanged in 30 states and the District of Columbia in November 2020. The
largest job gains occurred in Texas (+61,000), California (+57,100), and New York
(+29,500). The largest percentage increases occurred in Hawaii (+2.6 percent), Louisiana
(+1.0 percent), and Maryland and Utah (+0.9 percent each). Employment decreased in
Illinois (-20,000, or -0.4 percent), Minnesota (-12,600, or -0.5 percent), and Iowa
(-10,100, or -0.7 percent). (See tables D and 3.)
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 48 states and the District of
Columbia and was essentially unchanged in 2 states. The largest job declines occurred
in California (-1,336,700), New York (-985,400), and Texas (-474,200). The largest
percentage declines occurred in Hawaii (-15.2 percent), New York (-10.0 percent), and
Michigan (-9.4 percent). (See table E.)
_____________
The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment news release for November 2020
is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The
State Employment and Unemployment news release for December 2020 is scheduled to
be released on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).
___________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on November 2020 |
| 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 October final and |
| November 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 November 2020 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. |
| |
| To mitigate distortions due to the complex relationships between level shifts |
| in the household survey and covariate inputs to the state models, BLS retained |
| the same modifications to the LAUS seasonal adjustment and smoothing procedures |
| that had been introduced during the May 2020 cycle. Specifically, level shifts |
| were isolated from the estimation of seasonal factors, and the Reproducing Kernel |
| Hilbert Space filter was not used to smooth the seasonally adjusted estimates. It |
| is anticipated that these modifications will be necessary for as long as complex |
| outlier treatments are deemed necessary for the model inputs. |
| |
| The "Frequently asked questions" document at |
| www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-november-2020.htm |
| extensively discusses the impact of a misclassification in the household survey |
| on the national estimates for November 2020. 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 |
| November 2020. |
| |
| 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. |
|___________________________________________________________________________________|
____________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Upcoming Changes to Local Area Unemployment Statistics Data |
| |
| Effective with the release of Regional and State Unemployment 2020 Annual Averages |
| on March 3, 2021, the civilian labor force and unemployment data for states, the |
| District of Columbia, and the modeled substate areas presented in tables 1 and 2 |
| of this news release will be replaced with data produced using a new generation of |
| time-series models. Data will be re-estimated back to January 1976 for census |
| regions, census divisions, states, the District of Columbia, the Los Angeles- |
| Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division, New York City, and the balances of |
| California and New York states. Data for the five remaining modeled substate and |
| balance-of-state areas will be re-estimated back to their series beginnings in |
| January 1990 or 1994. Both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted data |
| will be affected. |
| |
| The revisions to model-based data at the state level and below for 2019 and 2020 |
| also will incorporate updated covariate inputs, while the revisions for all model- |
| based data from April 2010 forward also will reflect new population controls from |
| the U.S. Census Bureau. |
|____________________________________________________________________________________|
Table A. States with unemployment rates significantly different
from that of the U.S., November 2020, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------
State | Rate(p)
--------------------------------------------------------------
United States (1) ...................| 6.7
|
Alabama .............................| 4.4
Alaska ..............................| 8.1
Arizona .............................| 7.8
California ..........................| 8.2
Connecticut .........................| 8.2
Delaware ............................| 5.1
District of Columbia ................| 7.5
Georgia .............................| 5.7
Hawaii ..............................| 10.1
Idaho ...............................| 4.8
|
Indiana .............................| 5.0
Iowa ................................| 3.6
Kansas ..............................| 5.6
Kentucky ............................| 5.6
Louisiana ...........................| 8.3
Maine ...............................| 5.0
Minnesota ...........................| 4.4
Missouri ............................| 4.4
Montana .............................| 4.9
Nebraska ............................| 3.1
|
Nevada ..............................| 10.1
New Hampshire .......................| 3.8
New Jersey ..........................| 10.2
New Mexico ..........................| 7.5
New York ............................| 8.4
North Dakota ........................| 4.5
Ohio ................................| 5.7
Oklahoma ............................| 5.9
South Carolina ......................| 4.4
South Dakota ........................| 3.5
|
Tennessee ...........................| 5.3
Texas ...............................| 8.1
Utah ................................| 4.3
Vermont .............................| 3.1
Virginia ............................| 4.9
Washington ..........................| 6.0
Wisconsin ...........................| 5.0
Wyoming .............................| 5.1
--------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Data are not preliminary.
(p) = preliminary.
Table B. States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes
from October 2020 to November 2020, seasonally adjusted
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rate |
|-----------|-----------| Over-the-month
State | October | November | change(p)
| 2020 | 2020(p) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ........................| 5.7 | 4.4 | -1.3
Alaska .........................| 5.9 | 8.1 | 2.2
California .....................| 9.0 | 8.2 | -.8
Connecticut ....................| 6.1 | 8.2 | 2.1
Delaware .......................| 5.6 | 5.1 | -.5
District of Columbia ...........| 8.3 | 7.5 | -.8
Georgia ........................| 4.5 | 5.7 | 1.2
Hawaii .........................| 14.2 | 10.1 | -4.1
Idaho ..........................| 5.5 | 4.8 | -.7
Illinois .......................| 7.4 | 6.9 | -.5
| | |
Indiana ........................| 5.5 | 5.0 | -.5
Kansas .........................| 5.0 | 5.6 | .6
Kentucky .......................| 7.3 | 5.6 | -1.7
Louisiana ......................| 9.4 | 8.3 | -1.1
Maine ..........................| 5.4 | 5.0 | -.4
Maryland .......................| 7.7 | 6.8 | -.9
Massachusetts ..................| 7.4 | 6.7 | -.7
Michigan .......................| 6.1 | 6.9 | .8
Mississippi ....................| 7.4 | 6.4 | -1.0
Nevada .........................| 11.9 | 10.1 | -1.8
| | |
New Hampshire ..................| 4.2 | 3.8 | -.4
New Jersey .....................| 8.0 | 10.2 | 2.2
New Mexico .....................| 8.1 | 7.5 | -.6
New York .......................| 9.2 | 8.4 | -.8
North Dakota ...................| 4.7 | 4.5 | -.2
Oregon .........................| 6.8 | 6.0 | -.8
Pennsylvania ...................| 7.4 | 6.6 | -.8
South Dakota ...................| 3.7 | 3.5 | -.2
Tennessee ......................| 7.3 | 5.3 | -2.0
Texas ..........................| 6.9 | 8.1 | 1.2
| | |
Virginia .......................| 5.2 | 4.9 | -.3
Wisconsin ......................| 6.0 | 5.0 | -1.0
Wyoming ........................| 5.5 | 5.1 | -.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table C. States with statistically significant unemployment rate changes
from November 2019 to November 2020, seasonally adjusted
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Rate |
|-----------|-----------| Over-the-year
State | November | November | change(p)
| 2019 | 2020(p) |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ........................| 2.7 | 4.4 | 1.7
Alaska .........................| 6.1 | 8.1 | 2.0
Arizona ........................| 4.5 | 7.8 | 3.3
Arkansas .......................| 3.5 | 6.2 | 2.7
California .....................| 3.9 | 8.2 | 4.3
Colorado .......................| 2.5 | 6.4 | 3.9
Connecticut ....................| 3.8 | 8.2 | 4.4
Delaware .......................| 4.0 | 5.1 | 1.1
District of Columbia ...........| 5.3 | 7.5 | 2.2
Florida ........................| 2.8 | 6.4 | 3.6
| | |
Georgia ........................| 3.1 | 5.7 | 2.6
Hawaii .........................| 2.6 | 10.1 | 7.5
Idaho ..........................| 2.9 | 4.8 | 1.9
Illinois .......................| 3.7 | 6.9 | 3.2
Indiana ........................| 3.2 | 5.0 | 1.8
Iowa ...........................| 2.8 | 3.6 | .8
Kansas .........................| 3.1 | 5.6 | 2.5
Kentucky .......................| 4.3 | 5.6 | 1.3
Louisiana ......................| 5.2 | 8.3 | 3.1
Maine ..........................| 3.0 | 5.0 | 2.0
| | |
Maryland .......................| 3.4 | 6.8 | 3.4
Massachusetts ..................| 2.8 | 6.7 | 3.9
Michigan .......................| 3.9 | 6.9 | 3.0
Minnesota ......................| 3.3 | 4.4 | 1.1
Mississippi ....................| 5.6 | 6.4 | .8
Missouri .......................| 3.4 | 4.4 | 1.0
Montana ........................| 3.5 | 4.9 | 1.4
Nevada .........................| 3.7 | 10.1 | 6.4
New Hampshire ..................| 2.6 | 3.8 | 1.2
New Jersey .....................| 3.7 | 10.2 | 6.5
| | |
New Mexico .....................| 4.8 | 7.5 | 2.7
New York .......................| 3.9 | 8.4 | 4.5
North Carolina .................| 3.6 | 6.2 | 2.6
North Dakota ...................| 2.4 | 4.5 | 2.1
Ohio ...........................| 4.1 | 5.7 | 1.6
Oklahoma .......................| 3.4 | 5.9 | 2.5
Oregon .........................| 3.4 | 6.0 | 2.6
Pennsylvania ...................| 4.6 | 6.6 | 2.0
Rhode Island ...................| 3.5 | 7.3 | 3.8
South Carolina .................| 2.4 | 4.4 | 2.0
| | |
Tennessee ......................| 3.3 | 5.3 | 2.0
Texas ..........................| 3.5 | 8.1 | 4.6
Utah ...........................| 2.4 | 4.3 | 1.9
Vermont ........................| 2.4 | 3.1 | .7
Virginia .......................| 2.7 | 4.9 | 2.2
Washington .....................| 4.0 | 6.0 | 2.0
West Virginia ..................| 5.1 | 6.2 | 1.1
Wisconsin ......................| 3.5 | 5.0 | 1.5
Wyoming ........................| 3.7 | 5.1 | 1.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table D. States with statistically significant employment changes from
October 2020 to November 2020, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | Over-the-month change(p)
State | October | November |---------------------------
| 2020 | 2020(p) | Level | Percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
California ...................| 16,134,300 | 16,191,400 | 57,100 | 0.4
Georgia ......................| 4,494,400 | 4,515,300 | 20,900 | .5
Hawaii .......................| 543,900 | 557,800 | 13,900 | 2.6
Idaho ........................| 762,200 | 768,400 | 6,200 | .8
Illinois .....................| 5,712,600 | 5,692,600 | -20,000 | -.4
Iowa .........................| 1,513,700 | 1,503,600 | -10,100 | -.7
Louisiana ....................| 1,879,100 | 1,897,600 | 18,500 | 1.0
Maryland .....................| 2,630,400 | 2,654,500 | 24,100 | .9
Massachusetts ................| 3,351,000 | 3,363,200 | 12,200 | .4
Minnesota ....................| 2,795,400 | 2,782,800 | -12,600 | -.5
| | | |
Missouri .....................| 2,779,700 | 2,797,100 | 17,400 | .6
Nevada .......................| 1,308,600 | 1,317,800 | 9,200 | .7
New York .....................| 8,805,100 | 8,834,600 | 29,500 | .3
North Carolina ...............| 4,354,000 | 4,370,500 | 16,500 | .4
Ohio .........................| 5,217,700 | 5,247,100 | 29,400 | .6
Pennsylvania .................| 5,616,600 | 5,637,600 | 21,000 | .4
South Carolina ...............| 2,125,700 | 2,142,000 | 16,300 | .8
Texas ........................| 12,387,200 | 12,448,200 | 61,000 | .5
Utah .........................| 1,565,500 | 1,579,600 | 14,100 | .9
Washington ...................| 3,288,600 | 3,305,200 | 16,600 | .5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
Table E. States with statistically significant employment changes from
November 2019 to November 2020, seasonally adjusted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | Over-the-year change(p)
State | November | November |---------------------------
| 2019 | 2020(p) | Level | Percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama ......................| 2,079,500 | 2,035,400 | -44,100 | -2.1
Alaska .......................| 329,600 | 310,000 | -19,600 | -5.9
Arizona ......................| 2,971,800 | 2,893,000 | -78,800 | -2.7
Arkansas .....................| 1,277,900 | 1,240,800 | -37,100 | -2.9
California ...................| 17,528,100 | 16,191,400 | -1,336,700 | -7.6
Colorado .....................| 2,808,900 | 2,680,700 | -128,200 | -4.6
Connecticut ..................| 1,692,500 | 1,596,000 | -96,500 | -5.7
Delaware .....................| 466,900 | 429,300 | -37,600 | -8.1
District of Columbia .........| 803,400 | 750,200 | -53,200 | -6.6
Florida ......................| 9,006,700 | 8,588,200 | -418,500 | -4.6
| | | |
Georgia ......................| 4,638,700 | 4,515,300 | -123,400 | -2.7
Hawaii .......................| 657,700 | 557,800 | -99,900 | -15.2
Illinois .....................| 6,105,200 | 5,692,600 | -412,600 | -6.8
Indiana ......................| 3,160,800 | 3,055,800 | -105,000 | -3.3
Iowa .........................| 1,586,000 | 1,503,600 | -82,400 | -5.2
Kansas .......................| 1,423,300 | 1,365,000 | -58,300 | -4.1
Kentucky .....................| 1,940,100 | 1,839,500 | -100,600 | -5.2
Louisiana ....................| 1,987,800 | 1,897,600 | -90,200 | -4.5
Maine ........................| 636,300 | 588,600 | -47,700 | -7.5
Maryland .....................| 2,776,100 | 2,654,500 | -121,600 | -4.4
| | | |
Massachusetts ................| 3,701,100 | 3,363,200 | -337,900 | -9.1
Michigan .....................| 4,442,600 | 4,023,800 | -418,800 | -9.4
Minnesota ....................| 2,978,400 | 2,782,800 | -195,600 | -6.6
Mississippi ..................| 1,159,900 | 1,135,000 | -24,900 | -2.1
Missouri .....................| 2,905,200 | 2,797,100 | -108,100 | -3.7
Montana ......................| 486,500 | 471,900 | -14,600 | -3.0
Nebraska .....................| 1,031,200 | 1,001,600 | -29,600 | -2.9
Nevada .......................| 1,427,300 | 1,317,800 | -109,500 | -7.7
New Hampshire ................| 681,700 | 627,200 | -54,500 | -8.0
New Jersey ...................| 4,219,200 | 3,896,300 | -322,900 | -7.7
| | | |
New Mexico ...................| 862,500 | 801,200 | -61,300 | -7.1
New York .....................| 9,820,000 | 8,834,600 | -985,400 | -10.0
North Carolina ...............| 4,592,800 | 4,370,500 | -222,300 | -4.8
North Dakota .................| 439,500 | 408,300 | -31,200 | -7.1
Ohio .........................| 5,583,400 | 5,247,100 | -336,300 | -6.0
Oklahoma .....................| 1,705,700 | 1,628,100 | -77,600 | -4.5
Oregon .......................| 1,953,200 | 1,830,000 | -123,200 | -6.3
Pennsylvania .................| 6,090,200 | 5,637,600 | -452,600 | -7.4
Rhode Island .................| 505,200 | 467,500 | -37,700 | -7.5
South Carolina ...............| 2,207,800 | 2,142,000 | -65,800 | -3.0
| | | |
South Dakota .................| 442,500 | 428,700 | -13,800 | -3.1
Tennessee ....................| 3,143,200 | 3,030,400 | -112,800 | -3.6
Texas ........................| 12,922,400 | 12,448,200 | -474,200 | -3.7
Vermont ......................| 315,400 | 288,200 | -27,200 | -8.6
Virginia .....................| 4,087,600 | 3,908,600 | -179,000 | -4.4
Washington ...................| 3,496,900 | 3,305,200 | -191,700 | -5.5
West Virginia ................| 715,300 | 670,100 | -45,200 | -6.3
Wisconsin ....................| 2,974,100 | 2,766,400 | -207,700 | -7.0
Wyoming ......................| 289,000 | 274,600 | -14,400 | -5.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(p) = preliminary.
United States Department of Labor
