State unemployment rates, May 2010

Nevada reported the highest unemployment rate among the states, 14.0 percent in May. This is the first month in which Nevada recorded the highest rate among the states and the first time since April of 2006 that a state other than Michigan has posted the highest rate. The rate in Nevada also set a new series high.

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The states with the next highest rates were Michigan, 13.6 percent; California, 12.4 percent; and Rhode Island, 12.3 percent.

North Dakota continued to register the lowest jobless rate, 3.6 percent, followed by South Dakota and Nebraska, 4.6 and 4.9 percent, respectively.

In May, 25 states posted jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 9.7 percent, 9 states had measurably higher rates, and 16 states and the District of Columbia had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

Nevada recorded the largest jobless rate increase from May 2009 (+2.5 percentage points), followed by Mississippi (+2.1 points). Ten additional states had smaller, but also statistically significant, increases. Minnesota reported the largest rate decrease from a year earlier (‑1.4 percentage points). Vermont and North Dakota experienced the only other significant rate decreases (‑1.1 and ‑0.8 percentage point(s), respectively). The remaining 35 states and the District of Columbia registered jobless rates that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — May 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 10-0815.