2000 Regional and State Unemployment — 2001-02-23

Unemployment rates decreased in 33 states and the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Three of the four regions and seven of the nine geographic divisions recorded rate declines in annual average unemployment. The U.S. jobless rate decreased from 4.2 percent to 4.0 percent over the year. Additionally, employment to population ratios increased in a majority of states, with the national ratio increasing to a record high of 64.5 percent. As the national unemployment rate reached its lowest point in 31 years, 14 states had the lowest annual average rates in their series. (All state series date back to at least 1976.) The 14 included 4 states in the Mountain division, 3 each in New England and the South Atlantic, and 2 in the East North Central.