2002 Regional and State Unemployment — 2003-02-28

Annual average unemployment rates rose between 2001 and 2002 in nearly all of the states and in each of the Census regions and divisions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment- population ratios declined in 40 states. At the national level, the jobless rate rose by 1.1 percentage points to 5.8 percent in 2002, while the employ- ment-population ratio dropped by 1.0 percentage point to 62.7 percent. Rising unemployment persisted across the U.S. in 2002. Compared with the prior year, jobless rates were higher in 47 states, lower in 2 states, and unchanged in 1 state and the District of Columbia. Two states in the Mountain division--Colorado and Utah--reported the largest unemployment rate increases from 2001 (+2.0 and +1.7 percentage points, respectively). Massachusetts and New Jersey recorded the next largest increases (+1.6 percentage points each). Seventeen additional states registered over-the-year rate increases of at least a full percentage point.