June 2000 — 2000-07-21

Regional and state unemployment rates were stable in June. All four regions registered virtually 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, 4.0 percent, was little changed from May. Nonfarm employment increased in 21 states and the District of Columbia in June. The Midwest again recorded the lowest regional unemployment rate, 3.4 percent in June. At 4.6 percent, the West was the only region with a rate of 4.0 percent or higher. Compared with a year earlier, jobless rates were down by 0.7 percentage point in the Northeast, 0.4 point in the West, and 0.3 point in both the Midwest and South. (See table 1.) Among the nine geographic divisions, the West North Central had the lowest unemployment rate in June, 2.6 percent, just below the 2.7 percent rate recorded in New England.