Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

State unemployment rates in December 2013

January 30, 2014

In December, Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rate among the states, at 9.1 percent. The next highest rates were in Nevada, 8.8 percent, and Illinois, 8.6 percent. North Dakota continued to have the lowest jobless rate, 2.6 percent. 

map
Unemployment rates by state, December 2013, seasonally adjusted
State Percent(p)

Alabama

6.1

Alaska

6.4

Arizona

7.6

Arkansas

7.4

California

8.3

Colorado

6.2

Connecticut

7.4

Delaware

6.2

District of Columbia

8.1

Florida

6.2

Georgia

7.4

Hawaii

4.5

Idaho

5.7

Illinois

8.6

Indiana

6.9

Iowa

4.2

Kansas

4.9

Kentucky

8.0

Louisiana

5.7

Maine

6.2

Maryland

6.1

Massachusetts

7.0

Michigan

8.4

Minnesota

4.6

Mississippi

8.0

Missouri

5.9

Montana

5.2

Nebraska

3.6

Nevada

8.8

New Hampshire

5.1

New Jersey

7.3

New Mexico

6.4

New York

7.1

North Carolina

6.9

North Dakota

2.6

Ohio

7.2

Oklahoma

5.4

Oregon

7.0

Pennsylvania

6.9

Rhode Island

9.1

South Carolina

6.6

South Dakota

3.6

Tennessee

7.8

Texas

6.0

Utah

4.1

Vermont

4.2

Virginia

5.2

Washington

6.6

West Virginia

5.9

Wisconsin

6.2

Wyoming

4.4

Footnotes:

(p) preliminary.

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

In total, 17 states had jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 6.7 percent, 9 states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 24 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

Over the month, 39 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from November, 2 states had increases, and 9 states had no change. 

From December 2012 to December 2013, 42 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, 6 states had increases, and 2 states had no change.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — December 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-0126. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, State unemployment rates in December 2013 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140130.htm (visited April 20, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle