Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release — 2009-03-27

Regional and state unemployment rates were nearly all higher in February. Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia recorded over-the-month unemployment rate increases, while all 50 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates than a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 percent in February, which was 3.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier. In February, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 49 states and the District of Columbia and increased in 1 state (Louisiana). The largest over-the-month decreases in the level of employment were re- corded in California (-116,000), Florida (-49,500), Texas (-46,100), and Pennsylvania (-41,000), while Alaska (-100) experienced the small- est decrease. The only state to report an over-the-month increase in the level of employment was Louisiana (+800 or less than +0.1 percent).