Unemployment rates higher in all 50 states in March 2009 than a year ago

April 20, 2009

From March 2008 to March 2009, jobless rates were up in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

States with the largest increases in unemployment rates and U.S. increase in unemployment rate, March 2008-09
[Chart data—TXT]

Oregon reported the largest jobless rate increase from a year earlier (+6.6 percentage points), followed by South Carolina (+5.5 points), North Carolina (+5.4 points), and Michigan (+5.0 points).

Eight additional states recorded rate increases of 4.0 percentage points or more, and 17 other states and the District of Columbia posted over-the-year rate increases of at least 3.0 percentage points. The remaining 21 states had smaller, but also statistically significant, rate increases from March 2008.

The national unemployment rate climbed by 3.4 percentage points from March 2008 to March 2009.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. More State unemployment statistics are available in "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment: March 2009" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 09-0391.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Editor's Desk, Unemployment rates higher in all 50 states in March 2009 than a year ago on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/apr/wk3/art01.htm (visited June 19, 2013).

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