by Calculated Risk on 9/16/2011 11:31:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in August. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia reported unemployment rate increases, 12 states recorded rate decreases, and 12 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
...
Nevada continued to report the highest unemployment rate among the states, 13.4 percent in August. California posted the next highest rate, 12.1 percent. North Dakota registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.5 percent, followed by Nebraska, 4.2 percent. ...

New Mexico registered the largest jobless rate decrease from August 2010 (-1.9 percentage points). Four additional states reported smaller but also statistically significant decreases over the year: Oklahoma (-1.4 percentage points), Indiana (-1.3 points), Oregon (-1.1 points), and Florida (-0.9 point). ... Forty-five states recorded unemployment rates that were not appreciably different from those of a year earlier.

The following graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). If there is no blue, the state is currently at the maximum during the recession.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate.

Three states and D.C. are at new 2007 recession highs: Arkansas (8.3%), D.C. (11.1%), Texas (8.5%) and Montana (7.8%).

The fact that 45 states and the District of Columbia have seen little or no improvement over the last year is a reminder that the unemployment crisis is ongoing.