Regional And State Employment And Unemployment: May 2004 — 2004-06-18

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in May, but down over the year. All four regions and 37 states and the District of Columbia had shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less in their unemployment rates from April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate was un- changed at 5.6 percent in May. Nonfarm payroll employment rose in 36 states. The South again had the lowest unemployment rate among the four regions in May, 5.0 percent, while the West continued to report the highest rate, 5.7 percent. No region reported an over-the-month unemployment rate change greater than 0.2 percentage point in either direction, though all four regions had sizable over-the-year rate declines. The West and South recorded the largest over-the-year decreases (-1.0 and -0.8 percentage point, respectively), while the Northeast and Midwest experienced smaller declines (-0.6 and -0.5 point, respectively).