May 1994 — 1994-06-29

Unemployment rates were lower in May 1994 than in the prior month in 23 states, higher in 17 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in 10 states, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in May, down from 6.4 percent in April. Employment on nonfarm payrolls was higher in May than in April in 40 states. Three states--California, Kansas, and New York--had declines of 1 percentage point or more in their unemployment rates from April to May. Of the three, New York had the largest change, dropping 1.7 percentage points to 6.5 percent. Eight additional states had declines ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 percentage point. No state had an increase of as much as 0.5 percentage point. (See table 1.) West Virginia was the only state with an unemployment rate above 8.5 percent, while 16 states had rates of 4.9 percent and below.