Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release — 2009-05-22

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in April. Twenty-one states recorded over-the-month unemployment rate decreases, 18 states and the District of Columbia registered rate increases, and 11 states had no rate change, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the year, jobless rates were up in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The national unemployment rate rose from 8.5 percent in March to 8.9 percent in April, which was 3.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier. In April, nonfarm payroll employment decreased in 44 states and the District of Columbia and rose in 6 states. The largest over-the-month employment decrease occurred in California (-63,700), followed by Texas (-39,500), Michigan (-38,400), Ohio (-25,200), Illinois (-23,100), and Wisconsin (-21,100). Michigan experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decrease in employment (-1.0 percent), followed by New Mexico (-0.9 percent) and Kansas, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin (-0.8 percent each).