The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each US state as of June 2019, the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Vermont continues to be the only state that has an unemployment rate below 2.25 percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Vermont, and the state with the highest, Alaska, is 4.3 percentage points (same as 4.3 last month and up from 4.2 last year). Vermont had the lowest rate last month while Hawaii had the lowest rate last year. Alaska had the highest rate in both time periods.
- Alaska has 3.05 times the unemployment rate that Vermont does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was the same as 3.05 last month and up from 2.75 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.50 (down from 3.60 last month and down from 3.80 last year) and the mean 3.60 (down from 3.64 the previous month and down from 3.76 last year).
- Twenty-seven states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 19 saw an improvement, and four saw their rate increase.
- Four states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 33 saw an improvement over the prior year's rate, and 13 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year.
Caveats
- Data is from June 2019.
- Data may conflict with previous month's report as statistical agencies make updates to the rates over the course of the month.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, New Jersey had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.3 percentage points. Kentucky, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Wisconsin had the greatest deterioration with an increase of 0.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate. Year over year, Louisiana had the greatest improvement with a 0.7 percentage point drop while Minnesota had the greatest deterioration with a 0.5 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, New Jersey had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 7.89% drop in its rate while New Hampshire had the biggest deterioration with a 4.17% rise in its rate. Year over year, Vermont had the greatest improvement with a 22.22% drop in its rate while Minnesota had the greatest deterioration with a 17.86% rise in its rate.
Thirty-four states have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as 34 last month, up from 28 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Sixteen have a rate between four and eight percent (same as 16 last month, down from 22 last year), and zero have a rate above eight percent (same as last month and last year).
Utah, Alabama, New Jersey, and Kentucky bested one other state each between last month and this. On the other hand, Rhode Island was bested by two states as its rate stayed at 3.6%. Year-over-year, Delaware surpassed nine states as it went from a rate of 3.8% to a rate of 3.2%, these are (in increasing order of unemployment rate): Minnesota, Missouri, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, and South Carolina. Conversely, North Carolina was surpassed by ten states (in increasing order of unemployment rate): Alabama, New Jersey, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, and Ohio.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4.1 | 3.7 | 3.5 |
| Alaska | 6.6 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| Arizona | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Arkansas | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| California | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Colorado | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3 |
| Connecticut | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Delaware | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Florida | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Georgia | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Hawaii | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Idaho | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Illinois | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Indiana | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Iowa | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Kansas | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
| Kentucky | 4.4 | 4 | 4.1 |
| Louisiana | 5 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Maine | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
| Maryland | 4 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Massachusetts | 3.4 | 3 | 3 |
| Michigan | 4 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| Minnesota | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Mississippi | 4.7 | 5 | 5 |
| Missouri | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Montana | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Nebraska | 2.8 | 3 | 3 |
| Nevada | 4.5 | 4 | 4 |
| New Hampshire | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.5 |
| New Jersey | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.5 |
| New Mexico | 4.8 | 5 | 4.9 |
| New York | 4.1 | 4 | 4 |
| North Carolina | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| North Dakota | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Ohio | 4.6 | 4.1 | 4 |
| Oklahoma | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Oregon | 4 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| South Carolina | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| South Dakota | 3 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Tennessee | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Texas | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
| Utah | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Vermont | 2.7 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Virginia | 3 | 3 | 2.9 |
| Washington | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| West Virginia | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.7 |
| Wisconsin | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Wyoming | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed August 11, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.