2006 Regional and State Unemployment — 2007-03-02

Annual average unemployment rates declined between 2005 and 2006 in 43 states and the District of Columbia and in all 4 regions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employ- ment-population ratios rose in 41 states and the District of Columbia and in all 4 regions. The U.S. jobless rate fell by 0.5 percentage point to 4.6 percent in 2006, while the national employment-population ratio in- creased by 0.4 percentage point to 63.1 percent. All four regions registered statistically significant declines in their jobless rates from 2005. (See table 1.) The West recorded the largest un- employment rate decrease (-0.6 percentage point), and the South and Midwest had the next largest declines (-0.5 and -0.4 percentage point, respectively). The South reported the lowest jobless rate in 2006, 4.5 percent, while the Midwest recorded the highest rate for the second consecutive year, 5.0 per- cent.