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Unemployment Rate Reached a Record Low in 19 States Last Year

The top 10 states, in aggregate, accounted for approximately two thirds of the nation’s overall employment growth last year.

Unemployment Rate Reached a Record Low in 19 States Last Year
Job seekers wait to interview with company representatives at the Hire Live Job Fair in El Segundo, California, U.S. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Texas, California and Florida created more than 200,000 jobs in 2018, according to employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Massachusetts and New York created more than 100,000 jobs and Arizona and Georgia were just shy at 99,343 and 99,340 respectively.

The top 10 states, in aggregate, accounted for approximately two thirds of the nation’s overall employment growth in the past year.

Unemployment rates reached a historic low one month last year in close to 40 percent of states, seven of which hit a record low during the last month of the year.

Unemployment Rate Reached a Record Low in 19 States Last Year

Key Insights

  • Total number of people employed fell in 7 states last year with North Dakota, Louisiana and Arkansas and Wyoming leading states with less people employed.
  • Civilian labor force employment expanded the most in Massachusetts with a 2.7 percentage point gain to 65.7 percent. New Mexico is in the number two spot.
  • Unemployment rates declined the most also in New Mexico where the rate fell 1.3 percentage points. Iowa closed the year with the lowest unemployment rate at 2.4 percent; Alaska with the highest rate at 6.3 percent (albeit a record low for Alaska).
  • Population employed, highest in Minnesota at 67.8 percent, fell in 16 states. At the bottom is West Virginia, where only 51.2 percent of the population is employment.
  • Headcount of those unemployment grew in eight states. The biggest gains occurred in Colorado as the labor force grew faster than available jobs.

Data used is from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics survey, which is considered the household survey, and is based on where people live, compared to the Current Employment Statistics survey of establishments based on where jobs are located.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Wei Lu at wlu30@bloomberg.net

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