by Calculated Risk on 12/21/2012 11:55:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally lower in November. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia recorded unemployment rate decreases and five states had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
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Nevada continued to record the highest unemployment rate among the states, 10.8 percent in November, followed by Rhode Island at 10.4 percent. North Dakota again registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.1 percent.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). All states are below the maximum unemployment rate for the recession.

The size of the blue bar indicates the amount of improvement - Michigan and Ohio have seen the most improvement - New Jersey and Connecticut are the laggards.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate. Only two states still have double digit unemployment rates: Nevada and Rhode Island. In early 2010, 18 states and D.C. had double digit unemployment rates.

Last month I wrote: "I expect the unemployment rate in California to fall below 10% very soon" and sure enough the unemployment rate in California fell to 9.8% in November, the lowest level since January 2009.

Even though Nevada still has the highest unemployment rate, the rate has declined in recent months, falling from 12.1% in August to 10.8% in November.

All current employment graphs