December 2001 — 2002-01-18

Most regional and state unemployment rates either rose or were little changed in December, and virtually all were higher than a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate edged up to 5.8 percent in December. Nonfarm employment decreased in 35 states and the District of Columbia. The West continued to report the highest unemployment rate--6.0 percent in December, the highest for any region since January 1997. The Midwest registered the lowest rate, 4.9 percent. The South had the largest over- the-month increase (+0.3 percentage point), and no region had a rate decline. All four regions posted rate increases over the year, ranging from 1.2 percentage points in the Northeast to 1.6 points each in the South and West. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, the Pacific division continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 6.3 percent, in December.