Nevada continued to report the highest unemployment rate among the states, 13.4 percent in August. California posted the next highest rate, 12.1 percent. North Dakota registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.5 percent, followed by Nebraska, 4.2 percent.
New Mexico registered the largest jobless rate decrease from August 2010 (-1.9 percentage points). Four additional states reported smaller but also statistically significant decreases over the year: Oklahoma (-1.4 percentage points), Indiana (-1.3 points), Oregon (-1.1 points), and Florida (-0.9 point). Forty-five states recorded unemployment rates that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.
The fact that 45 states and the District of Columbia have seen little or no improvement over the last year is a reminder that the unemployment crisis is ongoing and could be for some time.
In related news, the Department of Labor stated that in the week ending September 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 428,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's figure of 417,000. The 4-week moving average was 419,500, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised average of 415,500. See chart below -
