June 1999 — 1999-07-16

Regional and state unemployment rates were relatively stable in June. Forty states recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate was essentially unchanged at 4.3 percent. Nonfarm employment rose in 37 states and the District of Columbia. The Midwest's unemployment rate, 3.7 percent in June, remained the lowest among the four regions. The South's rate, at 3.9 percent, reached a series low. (Virtually all regional and state series began in 1978.) The West again recorded the highest rate, 5.0 percent. Compared with last June, no region reported a higher rates. The largest declines were in the South (-0.6 percentage point) and West (-0.4 point); all geographic divisions in these two regions posted declines of at least 0.4 percentage point.