September 21, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Geography of unemployment, August 2009
In August, the West reported the highest regional jobless rate, 10.6 percent, followed by the Midwest, 10.0 percent. The Northeast recorded the lowest rate, 9.0 percent.
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All four regions experienced significant unemployment rate increases from August 2008, the largest of which was in the West (+4.1 percentage points).
Among the nine geographic divisions, the Pacific and East North Central had the highest unemployment rates in August, 11.6 and 11.1 percent, respectively. The Pacific rate was the highest in its series. (All region, division, and state series begin in 1976.)
The divisions registering the lowest jobless rates were the West North Central, 7.5 percent, and West South Central, 7.8 percent.
All nine divisions had significant over-the-year rate increases, with the largest change occurring in the Pacific (+4.5 percentage points). Two other divisions also experienced increases of 4.0 percentage points or more—the East North Central and East South Central (+4.2 percentage points each).
Michigan (in the East North Central division) continued to have the highest unemployment rate among the states, 15.2 percent. Nevada (in the Mountain division) recorded the next highest rate, 13.2 percent, followed by Rhode Island (New England division), 12.8 percent, and California and Oregon (both in the Pacific division), 12.2 percent each.
These data are from the BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. These data are seasonally adjusted, and are featured in "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — August 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1126.
Of interest
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