Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release — 2011-08-19

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in July. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate increases, nine states recorded rate decreases, and thirteen states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Thirty-seven states posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, seven states and the District of Columbia reported increases, and six states had no change. The national jobless rate was little changed at 9.1 percent but was 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In July, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia and decreased in 19 states. The largest over-the-month increase in employment occurred in New York (+29,400), followed by Texas (+29,300), Michigan (+23,000), and Tennessee (+14,300). Hawaii experienced the largest over-the-month percentage increase in employment (+1.1 percent), followed by Utah (+0.8 percent), Michigan (+0.6 percent), and Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee (+0.5 percent each).