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From July 2015 to July 2016, 10 states and the District of Columbia experienced statistically significant unemployment rate decreases. The largest of these occurred in Arkansas (−1.3 percentage points, as the unemployment rate dropped from 5.2 percent to 3.9 percent) and Tennessee (also −1.3 percentage points, as the unemployment rate fell from 5.6 percent to 4.3 percent).
State | Unemployment rate | Number of unemployed | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 2015 | July 2016(p) | Change(p) | July 2015 | July 2016(p) | Change(p) | |
Arkansas |
5.2 | 3.9 | -1.3 | 68,990 | 52,709 | -16,281 |
California |
6.1 | 5.5 | -0.6 | 1,161,495 | 1,047,746 | -113,749 |
District of Columbia |
6.8 | 5.9 | -0.9 | 26,367 | 23,376 | -2,991 |
Georgia |
5.7 | 5.0 | -0.7 | 270,457 | 242,893 | -27,564 |
Iowa |
3.6 | 4.1 | 0.5 | 61,628 | 70,628 | 9,000 |
Maryland |
5.1 | 4.3 | -0.8 | 160,397 | 135,172 | -25,225 |
New York |
5.1 | 4.7 | -0.4 | 495,362 | 452,491 | -42,871 |
North Carolina |
5.7 | 4.7 | -1.0 | 273,088 | 225,934 | -47,154 |
North Dakota |
2.7 | 3.1 | 0.4 | 11,337 | 13,161 | 1,824 |
Tennessee |
5.6 | 4.3 | -1.3 | 172,144 | 133,492 | -38,652 |
Vermont |
3.7 | 3.2 | -0.5 | 12,700 | 11,226 | -1,474 |
Virginia |
4.3 | 3.7 | -0.6 | 181,381 | 157,011 | -24,370 |
West Virginia |
6.9 | 5.7 | -1.2 | 54,405 | 45,012 | -9,393 |
Wyoming |
4.3 | 5.7 | 1.4 | 13,068 | 16,925 | 3,857 |
Footnotes: (p) = preliminary. |
In Arkansas, the number of unemployed declined from 68,990 to 52,709 over the July 2015 to July 2016 period, a decrease of 16,281. In Tennessee, there was a decrease of 38,652, as the number of unemployed declined from 172,114 to 133,492.
In California over this time period, the number of unemployed fell by 113,749 people, the largest decrease nationwide.
Three states saw significant over-the-year unemployment rate increases: North Dakota (+0.4 percentage points), Iowa (+0.5 percentage points), and Wyoming (+1.4 percentage points).
These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are subject to revision. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — July 2016" (HTML) (PDF).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Arkansas and Tennessee unemployment rates decline 1.3 percentage points from July 2015 to July 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/arkansas-and-tennessee-unemployment-rates-decline-1-point-3-percentage-points-from-july-2015-to-july-2016.htm (visited October 31, 2024).