March 1999 — 1999-04-16

Regional and state unemployment rates remained relatively stable in March. All four regions reported little or no change from February, and 43 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 reported today. The national jobless rate declined by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 4.2 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment rose in 37 states. The Midwest's unemployment rate, 3.3 percent in March, remained the lowest among the four regions, while the West again recorded the highest rate, 5.1 percent. Both the Midwest and South had new record lows for their series. (Virtually all regional and state series began in 1978.) Compared with last March, rates were lower in all regions by 0.3 to 0.6 percentage point. (See table 1.) The West North Central, at 2.7 percent in March, continued to report the lowest unemployment rate among the nine geographic divisions.