Regional And State Employment And Unemployment: August 2002 — 2002-09-20

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally stable in August and remained higher than a year earlier. All four regions and 40 states and the District of Columbia recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor re- ported today. The national jobless rate, 5.7 percent, was little changed in August. Nonfarm employment increased in 27 states and the District of Columbia in August. Among the four regions, the West continued to register the highest unemployment rate in August, 6.1 percent. The Midwest, Northeast, and South each posted a rate of 5.3 percent. All regions experienced rate increases over the year--0.7 percentage point each in the Midwest, North- east, and West and 0.5 point in the South. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, the Pacific division again re- ported the highest unemployment rate, 6.4 percent in August.