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USDL-08-129

For release: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The New England unemployment rate, at 4.8 percent in March, was essentially unchanged over the month, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Denis M. McSweeney noted that though the unemployment was little changed from February, over the last three months it has risen 0.4 percentage point. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in March, rising 0.3 percentage point over the month. Since March 2007, the jobless rates for New England and the nation have increased, up 0.4 and 0.7 percentage point, respectively. (See chart 1.)

New England is one of nine geographic divisions nationwide. Among the nine, the Pacific reported the highest jobless rate in March, 5.9 percent, followed closely by the East North Central at 5.8 percent. The Mountain and West South Central divisions recorded the lowest rates, 4.1 and 4.2 percent, respectively. The remaining five divisions, including New England, had rates ranging from 4.4 to 5.3 percent. The Pacific and South Atlantic divisions registered the only statistically significant jobless rate changes from a month earlier (+0.4 and +0.3 percentage point, respectively). Eight of the nine divisions posted significant over-the-year unemployment rate changes, all increases: the Pacific (+0.9 percentage point), South Atlantic (+0.8 point), Mountain (+0.6 point), East North Central, East South Central, and Middle Atlantic (+0.5 point each), New England (+0.4 point), and West North Central (+0.3 point). (See table 2.)

In March, two states in New England posted jobless rates that were significantly different from that of the United States. The jobless rate in New Hampshire, at 3.9 percent, was measurably lower than the 5.1-percent nationwide average. New Hampshire was among 19 states in the country to have an unemployment rate significantly lower than that for the nation in March. In contrast, the unemployment rate in Rhode Island, at 6.1 percent, was measurably higher than the U.S. average. Rhode Island was one of only five states, along with the District of Columbia, to have an unemployment rate higher than the nationwide average. Among the remaining New England states jobless rates ranged from 4.4 percent in Massachusetts to 5.3 percent in Connecticut, but statistically, none of these rates differed significantly from that for the nation. Nationwide, 26 states, including the 4 in New England, had rates that were not appreciably different from the U.S. average. (See table 1.)

In March, none of the New England states posted statistically significant unemployment rate changes over the month. However, over the year, four of the six states recorded measurable unemployment rate increases from March 2007 to March 2008: Rhode Island (+1.2 percentage points), Connecticut (+0.9 percentage point), Vermont (+0.6 point), and Maine (+0.4 point). Rhode Island's jobless rate increase was not only the largest in New England over the 12-month period, but the largest in the nation, a distinction shared by California, Florida, and Nevada as well. These 4 states were among 26 nationally, along with the District of Columbia, to report a statistically significant over-the-year jobless rate increase in March. The remaining New England states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire posted unemployment rates in March 2008 that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.

This release presents labor force and unemployment data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. Estimates for the U.S. are obtained directly from the CPS, which is a sample survey of approximately 60,000 households nationwide that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the Census Bureau. The LAUS program produces data for the nine geographic divisions in the United States: New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, East North Central, West North Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Data for all divisions, as well as the 50 states, are available in the Regional and State Employment and Unemployment release http://www.bls.gov/lau/home.htm#news issued monthly by BLS, while national statistics are highlighted in the Employment Situation http://www.bls.gov/cps/home.htm#news.

Effective with the release of 2007 annual average estimates on February 29, the historical labor force data for regions, divisions, and states presented in tables 1 and 2 of this news release were revised to incorporate updated population controls, reestimation of models, adjustment to new division and national control totals, and revised seasonal adjustment. Data were revised back to 2003. The updated population controls reflect the annual updating of population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Table 1. Labor force status for the U.S., New England, and New England states, seasonally adjusted (Numbers in thousands)

Table 2. Civilian labor force and unemployment by census region and division, seasonally adjusted (Numbers in thousands)

Last Modified Date: April 30, 2008