Regional And State Employment And Unemployment: April 2003 — 2003-05-30

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in April. All four regions and 45 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 rose to 6.0 percent in April. Nonfarm employment increased in 27 states and the District of Columbia in April. Among the four regions, the Midwest recorded the lowest unemployment rate in April, 5.5 percent, closely followed by the South, at 5.6 percent, and the Northeast, at 5.7 percent. The West continued to report the highest rate, 6.5 percent. Over the year, the four regions registered little or no change in their jobless rates. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, the West North Central continued to post the lowest unemployment rate, 4.4 percent in April. The next lowest rates were reported in the New England and South Atlantic divisions, 5.2 per- cent each.