Employment situation in the country continued to remain stable in March 2015 with little change in overall unemployment rates that stood at 5.5%, same as the previous calendar month. Overall, there was considerable decline in jobless rates in over 23 states.
Let us decode the monthly News Release from Bureau of Labor Statistics titled “ REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT — MARCH 2015” made public on April 21, 2015.
Split – State wise (Non farm Payroll Employment & Unemployment)
In total, 12 states in the country saw an increase in unemployment rates, 23 states witnessed decline along with District of Columbia and 15 states saw no change.
Top 3 States with biggest job gains(Over the month)
1) California (+39,800)
2) Florida (+30,600)
3) Massachusetts & Washington (+10,500 each)
Top 3 States which sizable job decreases(Over the month)
1) Texas (-25,400)
2) Oklahoma (-12,900)
3) Pennsylvania (-12,700)
Top States with highest percentage increase(Over the month)
1) Delaware
2) Florida
3) Maine
4) New Hampshire
5) South Dakota
All at 0.4 percent increase each
Top States with highest percentage decrease(Over the month)
1) Oklahoma (-0.8 percent)
2) Arkansas, North Dakota & West Virginia (-0.6 percent)
Over the year, all 50 states with District of Columbia performed well with with significant job additions. Utah (+3.9 percent) led the bandwagon by achieving the highest over the year employment followed by Florida (+3.7 percent) and Washington (+3.4 percent).
Unemployment
- Nebraska continued to be on top of charts with lowest jobless rate at 2.6%. It may be recollected that this state had overthrown North Dakota last month from the top position.
- Nevada continued to disappoint with highest unemployment rate of 7.1% among all the states and D.C also stood low at 7.7%. To sum up, 20 states had rates lower than the national average in March, 11 states and D.C exceeded it 19 states were close to it.
- The largest over the month decline in jobless rates occurred in Oregon and Washington (-0.4 percentage point). Out of the 4 states that recorded over-the-month increase, West Virginia (+0.5 percentage point) stood on top.
- Twenty seven states witnessed rate declines from March 2014(over the year). Standing tall on top of this chart were Kentucky (-2.1%) and Michigan (-2.0 %). Louisiana at 1.1% had the biggest over-the-year rate increase.
Break Up – Region wise(Non farm Payroll)
In March, Midwest continued to top the list as it did over the last two months with lowest unemployment rate at 5.0%. Likewise, the Western region continued to tumble at 5.9%. Over the month, only the West (-0.2%) exhibited significant change. Over the year, the rates came down in all 4 regions.
- Midwest – 5.0%
- Northeast – 5.6%
- West – 5.9%
- South – 5.3%
Split By Geographic Division
West North Central led this division with lowest unemployment rate of 4.2% in March 2015 and The Pacific was the highest at 6.3%. Comparing to February 2015, significant jobless rate change occurred in The Pacific(-0.2%) only. Rates in all the 9 geographical divisions saw a considerable fall from March last year.
Break up of Unemployment rates for March 2015(Geo Division Wise)
- New England – 5.2
- Middle Atlantic – 5.7
- South Atlantic – 5.7
- East South Central – 5.8
- West South Central – 4.6
- East North Central – 5.5
- West North Central – 4.2
- Mountain – 5.1
- Pacific – 6.3