U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Illinois, Oregon, West Virginia, Wyoming have largest 12-month jobless rate drops in April 2017

May 26, 2017

Over the year ending April 2017, the unemployment rates of Illinois, Oregon, West Virginia, and Wyoming each fell 1.3 percentage points, the largest decreases nationwide. West Virginia's April 2017 unemployment rate (4.8 percent) was its lowest recorded jobless rate since October 2008. The unemployment rate for Illinois (4.7 percent) was its lowest since February 2007, while the unemployment rate for Oregon in April 2017 (3.7 percent) was its lowest since the series began in 1976.
12-month percentage point change in state unemployment rates, April 2017, seasonally adjusted
State April 2017 unemployment rate(p) April 2016 unemployment rate 12-month change(p) Statistically significant?

Alabama

 5.4% 5.8% -0.4 No

Alaska

 6.6 6.6 0.0 No

Arizona

 5.0 5.4 -0.4 No

Arkansas

 3.5 4.1 -0.6 No

California

 4.8 5.5 -0.7 Yes

Colorado

 2.3 3.3 -1.0 Yes

Connecticut

 4.9 5.4 -0.5 No

Delaware

 4.6 4.4 0.2 No

District of Columbia

 5.9 6.1 -0.2 No

Florida

 4.5 4.9 -0.4 No

Georgia

 5.0 5.4 -0.4 No

Hawaii

 2.7 3.1 -0.4 No

Idaho

 3.4 3.8 -0.4 Yes

Illinois

 4.7 6.0 -1.3 Yes

Indiana

 3.6 4.7 -1.1 Yes

Iowa

 3.1 3.8 -0.7 Yes

Kansas

 3.7 4.1 -0.4 No

Kentucky

 5.1 5.0 0.1 No

Louisiana

 5.8 6.2 -0.4 No

Maine

 3.0 3.8 -0.8 Yes

Maryland

 4.3 4.4 -0.1 No

Massachusetts

 3.9 4.0 -0.1 No

Michigan

 4.7 4.9 -0.2 No

Minnesota

 3.8 3.8 0.0 No

Mississippi

 5.0 6.0 -1.0 Yes

Missouri

 3.9 4.5 -0.6 No

Montana

 3.8 4.2 -0.4 No

Nebraska

 3.0 3.2 -0.2 No

Nevada

 4.7 5.9 -1.2 Yes

New Hampshire

 2.8 2.8 0.0 No

New Jersey

 4.1 5.1 -1.0 Yes

New Mexico

 6.7 6.6 0.1 No

New York

 4.3 4.8 -0.5 Yes

North Carolina

 4.7 5.0 -0.3 No

North Dakota

 2.7 3.3 -0.6 Yes

Ohio

 5.0 5.0 0.0 No

Oklahoma

 4.3 4.9 -0.6 No

Oregon

 3.7 5.0 -1.3 Yes

Pennsylvania

 4.9 5.5 -0.6 No

Rhode Island

 4.3 5.4 -1.1 Yes

South Carolina

 4.3 5.2 -0.9 Yes

South Dakota

 2.8 2.7 0.1 No

Tennessee

 4.7 4.6 0.1 No

Texas

 5.0 4.6 0.4 No

Utah

 3.1 3.5 -0.4 No

Vermont

 3.1 3.3 -0.2 No

Virginia

 3.8 4.0 -0.2 No

Washington

 4.6 5.6 -1.0 Yes

West Virginia

 4.8 6.1 -1.3 Yes

Wisconsin

 3.2 4.1 -0.9 Yes

Wyoming

 4.3 5.6 -1.3 Yes
Footnotes:

(p)Preliminary.

Nineteen states had statistically significant unemployment rate changes from April 2016 to April 2017, all of which were decreases. Nevada (−1.2 percent), Indiana (−1.1 percent), and Rhode Island (−1.1 percent) also had over-the-year unemployment rate decreases of more than 1.0 percent.

In April 2017, Colorado had the lowest unemployment rate (2.3 percent), followed by Hawaii and North Dakota (2.7 percent each). New Mexico (6.7 percent) and Alaska (6.6 percent) had the highest unemployment rates.

The state unemployment data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "State Employment and Unemployment — April 2017" (HTML) (PDF). For more charts and tables related to state employment and unemployment, see the State unemployment chart package.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Illinois, Oregon, West Virginia, Wyoming have largest 12-month jobless rate drops in April 2017 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/illinois-oregon-west-virginia-wyoming-have-largest-12-month-jobless-rate-drops-in-april-2017.htm (visited May 01, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle