April 1997 — 1997-05-28

State unemployment rates were generally unchanged in April, as 40 states reported changes of 0.3 percentage point or less in either direction from March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate declined to 4.9 percent from 5.2 percent in March. Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 31 states over the month. In April, 21 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from March, 22 states recorded increases, and 7 states reported no change. Arkansas and Mississippi had the largest over-the-month declines, both -0.8 percentage point, followed by South Carolina (-0.7 point), the District of Columbia, (-0.6 point), and Delaware (-0.5 point). New Hampshire recorded the largest rate increase over the month, 0.6 percentage point. No other state had an increase of more than 0.4 percentage point. (See table 1.) Nebraska had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, 2.1 percent.