October 1999 — 1999-11-23

Regional and state unemployment rates were stable in October. All four regions posted little or no change over the month, 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 was essentially unchanged at 4.1 percent. Nonfarm employment rose in 40 states. The Midwest's unemployment rate, 3.4 percent in October, remained the lowest among the four regions. The West again recorded the highest rate, 4.7 percent; however, the 4.7 percent jobless rate in both September and October was the lowest in the series for the West region. Compared with a year earlier, jobless rates were lower in all regions--by 0.6 percentage point in the West and lesser amounts in the other three regions. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, the West North Central division reported the lowest unemployment rate in October, 2.5 percent, a series low for this division.