Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary (August)

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http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm

Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: AUGUST 2004


Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in
August. All four regions and 40 states and the District of Columbia recorded
shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less in their jobless rates from July, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
Over the year, unemployment rates declined in all four regions and in 45
states. The national unemployment rate, 5.4 percent in August, was little
changed from July. Nonfarm payroll employment rose in 30 states and the
District of Columbia over the month.

Regional Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Among the four regions, the South again reported the lowest unemployment
rate in August, 5.0 percent. The Midwest and West posted the highest rates,
5.6 percent each. All regions posted over-the-year jobless rate declines:
the West (-1.0 percentage point), the South (-0.8 point), the Northeast
(-0.6 point), and the Midwest (-0.4 point). (See table 1.)

In August, the South Atlantic division registered the lowest unemployment
rate among the nine geographic divisions, 4.6 percent, followed by the Moun-
tain and West North Central divisions, 4.7 percent each, and New England,
4.9 percent. The East North Central and Pacific divisions recorded the high-
est unemployment rates, 6.0 and 5.9 percent, respectively. Over the month,
the Pacific division registered the largest rate change (-0.3 percentage point).
All nine divisions recorded over-the-year jobless rate declines of at least
0.4 percentage point, with the largest decreases in the West South Central
(-1.3 percentage points), Pacific (-1.1 points), and Mountain divisions
(-1.0 point).


------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Hurricane Charley |
| |
| Hurricane Charley struck Florida during the August survey |
| reference period. BLS made additional data collection efforts |
| for the hurricane-affected counties to ensure that payroll survey |
| response rates were at normal levels. An examination of the data |
| suggests there were no discernable weather-related effects on |
| payroll employment in Florida since the storm hit late in the |
| reporting period for most of the survey respondents. For the |
| storm to have affected payroll employment, people would have to |
| be off work and unpaid for the entire pay period. (In the labor |
| force data, people who miss work for weather-related events are |
| counted as employed, whether or not they are paid for the time |
| off.) |
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State Unemployment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Hawaii again reported the lowest unemployment rate, 2.9 percent, in August.
Eight additional states recorded rates below 4.0 percent. Alaska and Oregon
again posted the highest state jobless rates, 7.6 and 7.4 percent, respec-
tively. The District of Columbia had an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.
Six additional states reported rates of 6.0 percent or more in August. (See
table 3.)



Compared with July, unemployment rates were higher in 25 states, lower
in 15 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in 10 states.
Oregon and Montana posted the largest over-the-month jobless rate increases
(+0.6 and +0.5 percentage point, respectively). The largest rate decrease
was in Louisiana (-1.1 percentage points). No other state had a rate de-
crease of one-half percentage point or more.

Unemployment rates were lower than a year earlier in 45 states, higher in
4 states and the District of Columbia, and unchanged in 1 state. Louisiana
recorded the largest over-the-year unemployment rate decrease (-1.8 percent-
age points), followed by Oklahoma (-1.7 points) and Hawaii (-1.6 points).
Sixteen additional states recorded over-the-year rate declines of 1.0 to
1.5 percentage points. No state posted an unemployment rate increase from
August 2003 larger than 0.4 percentage point.

Nonfarm Payroll Employment (Seasonally Adjusted)

From July to August, total nonfarm employment increased in 30 states
and the District of Columbia and decreased in 20 states. The largest
employment increases occurred in Florida (+16,600), Georgia (+15,000),
Texas (+14,400), Arizona (+10,200), and Colorado (+8,200). North Dakota
posted the largest over-the-month percentage increase in employment (+0.7
percent), followed by Maine (+0.6 percent), Vermont (+0.5 percent), and
Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, and Hawaii (+0.4 percent each). The largest
employment decreases occurred in Ohio (-11,800), Kentucky (-6,700), South
Carolina (-6,000), Missouri (-5,500), and Louisiana (-4,900). The largest
over-the-month percentage decreases in employment were reported in Kentucky
(-0.4 percent), Alaska, Louisiana, and South Carolina (-0.3 percent each),
and Missouri, Ohio, and Rhode Island (-0.2 percent each). (See table 5.)

Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 47 states and the District
of Columbia and decreased in 3 states. The largest over-the-year gains in
employment occurred in Florida (+155,400), Texas (+116,600), California
(+112,300), Virginia (+85,000), and New York (+69,500). The largest percent-
age gains were reported in Nevada (+4.3 percent), Idaho (+2.8 percent), Hawaii
(+2.7 percent), and Utah (+2.5 percent). Over-the-year employment decreases
were registered in Michigan (-45,000, -1.0 percent), Ohio (-37,300, -0.7 per-
cent), and Massachusetts (-100, 0.0 percent).


______________________________


The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for August is
scheduled to be issued on September 29. The Regional and State Employment
and Unemployment release for September is scheduled to be issued on
October 22.



Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Technical Note
Table 1. Civilian labor force and unemployment by census regions and divisions, seasonally adjusted
Table 2. Civilian labor force and unemployment by census regions and divisions, not seasonally adjusted
Table 3. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and selected areas, seasonally adjusted
Table 4. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and selected areas, not seasonally adjusted
Table 5. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by state and selected industry division, seasonally adjusted http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t05.htm
Table 6. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by state and selected industry division, not seasonally adjusted http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t06.htm

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Last Modified Date: September 17, 2004