December 2000 — 2001-01-19

Regional and state unemployment rates were stable in December. All four regions registered little or no change over the month, and 43 states recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate was unchanged at 4.0 percent. Nonfarm employment increased in 32 states and the District of Columbia in December. The Midwest again registered the lowest regional jobless rate, 3.6 percent in December, while the West continued to have the highest rate, 4.4 percent. Over-the-year rate changes were small, with the Northeast experiencing the largest change, -0.3 percentage point. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, New England again had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.3 percent, which is also a series low for any division. (Virtually all region and state series begin in 1978.) The Pacific division continued to register the highest rate, 4.7 percent.