Florida has largest over-the-year decrease in unemployment rate, August 2013

From August 2012 to August 2013, thirty-six states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases, 12 states had increases, and 2 states had no change. Fourteen states had statistically significant unemployment rate changes from August 2012, all of which were declines. The largest of these occurred in Florida (-1.6 percentage points).

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Unemployment rate changes by state, seasonally adjusted, August 2012-August 2013

State	Percentage point change in unemployment rate from August 2012 to August 2013(p)	Statistical significance
Alabama	-1.2	Statistically significant change
Alaska	-0.5	Not statistically significant change
Arizona	0.0	Not statistically significant change
Arkansas	0.1	Not statistically significant change
California	-1.5	Statistically significant change
Colorado	-1.0	Statistically significant change
Connecticut	-0.5	Not statistically significant change
Delaware	0.1	Not statistically significant change
District of Columbia	-0.2	Not statistically significant change
Florida	-1.6	Statistically significant change
Georgia	-0.3	Not statistically significant change
Hawaii	-1.4	Statistically significant change
Idaho	-0.2	Not statistically significant change
Illinois	0.3	Not statistically significant change
Indiana	-0.3	Not statistically significant change
Iowa	-0.4	Not statistically significant change
Kansas	0.1	Not statistically significant change
Kentucky	0.1	Not statistically significant change
Louisiana	0.6	Not statistically significant change
Maine	-0.3	Not statistically significant change
Maryland	0.1	Not statistically significant change
Massachusetts	0.4	Not statistically significant change
Michigan	-0.3	Not statistically significant change
Minnesota	-0.6	Not statistically significant change
Mississippi	-0.8	Not statistically significant change
Missouri	0.2	Not statistically significant change
Montana	-0.7	Not statistically significant change
Nebraska	0.2	Not statistically significant change
Nevada	-1.5	Statistically significant change
New Hampshire	-0.7	Not statistically significant change
New Jersey	-1.2	Statistically significant change
New Mexico	-0.2	Not statistically significant change
New York	-1.0	Statistically significant change
North Carolina	-0.9	Statistically significant change
North Dakota	-0.2	Not statistically significant change
Ohio	0.1	Not statistically significant change
Oklahoma	0.0	Not statistically significant change
Oregon	-0.7	Not statistically significant change
Pennsylvania	-0.4	Not statistically significant change
Rhode Island	-1.3	Statistically significant change
South Carolina	-1.0	Not statistically significant change
South Dakota	-0.7	Statistically significant change
Tennessee	0.4	Not statistically significant change
Texas	-0.4	Not statistically significant change
Utah	-1.0	Statistically significant change
Vermont	-0.6	Statistically significant, increase
Virginia	-0.1	Not statistically significant change
Washington	-1.2	Statistically significant change
West Virginia	-1.3	Not statistically significant change
Wisconsin	-0.3	Statistically significant change
Wyoming	-0.8	Not statistically significant change
Footnotes: (p) Preliminary.

Nevada had the highest unemployment rate among the states in August 2013, 9.5 percent. The next highest rate was in Illinois, 9.2 percent. North Dakota continued to have the lowest jobless rate, 3.0 percent. In total, 15 states had jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 7.3 percent, 11 states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 24 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

In August 2013, two states had statistically significant over-the-month unemployment rate changes: Alaska (+0.2 percentage point) and Indiana (-0.3 point). The remaining 48 states and the District of Columbia had jobless rates that were not measurably different from those of a month earlier, though some had changes that were at least as large numerically as the significant changes.