February 2002 — 2002-03-26

Regional and state unemployment rates generally were stable in February and remained higher than a year ago. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less from a month ago, while over the year only 11 states registered changes that small, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The national jobless rate was essentially unchanged in February at 5.5 percent. Nonfarm employment decreased in 32 states. (Employment and unemployment data for Michigan, and therefore the East North Central division and Midwest region, were not available at the time of release.) In February, the Northeast region again recorded the lowest unemployment rate, 5.2 percent, closely followed by the South, at 5.3 percent. The jobless rate in the West edged down to 6.1 percent, but remained the highest among the three regions for which data were available.