Regional And State Employment And Unemployment: January 2007

[RTFX-Trading]

REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: JANUARY 2007

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in
January. Overall, 26 states and the District of Columbia recorded over-
the-month unemployment rate decreases, 18 states registered increases, and
6 states had no change, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Labor reported today. Over the year, jobless rates were down in
36 states, up in 10 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in
4 states. The national unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in
January at 4.6 percent.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 36 states and decreased in 14
states and the District of Columbia in January. The largest employment
gains occurred in Illinois (+19,900), Arizona (+16,900), Georgia (+16,100),
New York (+15,600), Minnesota (+13,100), and North Carolina (+12,700).
Montana posted the largest percentage increase in employment (+0.7 percent),
followed by Arizona (+0.6 percent), Minnesota (+0.5 percent), and Georgia,
Kansas, New Mexico, and Utah (+0.4 percent each). The largest employment
decreases occurred in Michigan (-23,900), Wisconsin (-13,600), Indiana
(-12,500), Ohio (-12,000), and Texas (-7,400). Michigan experienced the
largest over-the-month percentage decline in employment (-0.6 percent),
followed by South Dakota and Wisconsin (-0.5 percent each), Indiana
(-0.4 percent), Alaska (-0.3 percent), and North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode
Island, and West Virginia (-0.2 percent each). (See table 5.) Over the
year, nonfarm employment increased in 46 states and the District of Colum-
bia and decreased in 4 states. The largest over-the-year percentage gains
in employment were reported in Louisiana (+4.6 percent), Arizona and Utah
(+4.2 percent each), Idaho (+3.8 percent), Wyoming (+3.5 percent), and
Nevada (+3.2 percent).

Regional Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

In January, the South registered the lowest unemployment rate among
the four regions, 4.2 percent, followed by the Northeast and West at
4.5 percent each. The Midwest continued to report the highest jobless rate,
5.0 percent. No region recorded a statistically significant unemployment
rate change from December. In contrast, three of the four regions posted
significant unemployment rate changes from a year earlier: the South
(-0.4 percentage point), West (-0.3 point), and Northeast (-0.2 point).
(See table 1.)

- 2 -

Among the nine geographic divisions, those reporting the lowest January
unemployment rates were the Mountain, 3.8 percent, South Atlantic, 4.0 per-
cent, and West North Central, 4.1 percent. The East North Central division
again recorded the highest rate, 5.4 percent. No division registered a
statistically significant over-the-month rate change. Four of the nine
divisions reported significant unemployment rate changes from a year
earlier, all of which were declines: the West South Central (-0.8 per-
centage point), East South Central (-0.7 point), and Middle Atlantic and
Mountain (-0.4 point each).

State Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Hawaii again recorded the lowest unemployment rate, 2.2 percent, in
January. The states posting the next lowest rates were Utah and Wyoming
at 2.6 percent each, Montana at 2.7 percent, and Virginia at 2.8 percent.
Michigan reported the highest unemployment rate, 6.9 percent, followed by
Alaska and South Carolina at 6.4 percent each and Mississippi at 6.2 per-
cent. The District of Columbia recorded an unemployment rate of 6.1 per-
cent. Four states posted the lowest jobless rates in their series--Alabama,
3.3 percent; Idaho, 3.0 percent; Montana, 2.7 percent; and West Virginia,
4.0 percent. (All state series begin in 1976.) Eighteen states registered
unemployment rates that were significantly below the U.S. rate in January,
6 states and the District of Columbia recorded measurably higher rates, and
26 states had rates that were statistically little different from that of
the nation. (See tables A and 3.)

West Virginia registered the largest over-the-month unemployment rate
decrease in January (-1.0 percentage point). Three additional states also
recorded statistically significant rate decreases from December: Kansas
and Rhode Island (-0.4 percentage point each) and Texas (-0.2 point).
Illinois posted the only significant over-the-month jobless rate increase
(+0.5 percentage point). The remaining 45 states and the District of
Columbia reported January unemployment rates that were not appreciably
different from those of a month earlier, even though some had changes that
were at least as large numerically as those with statistically significant
changes.

Mississippi recorded the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease
from January 2006 (-1.4 percentage points). The states with the next
largest rate decreases were Louisiana and New Mexico (-0.9 percentage point
each) and Montana and Utah (-0.8 point each). Fourteen additional states
had smaller, but also statistically significant, rate decreases. Three
states reported significant unemployment rate increases from a year ear-
lier--Massachusetts (+0.5 percentage point) and Nevada and Vermont (+0.4
point each). Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia recorded
jobless rates that were not appreciably different from those of January
2006. (See table B.)

Nonfarm Payroll Employment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Between December 2006 and January 2007, nine states reported statisti-
cally significant changes in employment. Employment rose in Illinois
(+19,900), Arizona (+16,900), Minnesota (+13,100), North Carolina (+12,700),
Utah (+5,200), and Montana (+3,100). Employment decreased in Michigan
(-23,900), Wisconsin (-13,600) and Indiana (-12,500). (See tables C and 5.)

Over the year, 28 states and the District of Columbia posted statistically
significant increases in employment. The largest employment increases occurred
in California (+251,400), Texas (+243,800), Florida (+145,200), and Arizona
(+110,000). Three states and the District of Columbia recorded statistically
significant gains in employment that were less than 15,000: Wyoming (+9,600),
Montana (+9,200), North Dakota (+7,500), and the District of Columbia (+7,400).
The only state to post a statistically significant decrease in employment was
Michigan (-66,700). (See table D.)