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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).
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: |
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.
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 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑1887.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Florida has largest over-the-year decrease in unemployment rate, August 2013 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130924.htm (visited October 31, 2024).