Key Points:
- Unemployment rates rose in one state, fell in six, and remained stable in 43 states and the District of Columbia in March.
- The U.S. unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 3.8% in March but is 0.3% higher than last year.
- In total, 23 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure of 3.8%, five states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 22 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.
- Twenty-nine states had jobless rate increases from a year earlier, one state had decreased, and twenty states and the District had little change.
- North Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in January at 2.0%, followed by South Dakota at 2.1% and Vermont at 2.2%.
- The rate in Mississippi, 3.0%, set a new series low.
- California had the highest unemployment rate again at 5.3%, followed by the District of Columbia at 5.2%.
- In March, six states had over-the-month unemployment rate decreases, the largest of which was in Arizona (-0.3%).