March 1994 — 1994-04-28

Unemployment rates were lower in March than in February in 25 states, higher in 23 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in 2 states, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in both February and March. Nonfarm payroll employment was higher in March than the month before in 41 states. Michigan had the sharpest over-the-month drop in its unemployment rate--1.4 percentage points. Three other states had declines of almost 1 percentage point in their unemployment rates--New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Oregon. In contrast, the jobless rates in Pennsylvania and Florida increased about 1-1/2 percentage points from February to March. No other state had an unemployment rate increase greater than 1 percentage point. (See table 1.) California, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia had rates above 8.5 percent in March, while 13 states had rates below 5 percent.