Unemployment Remains High In Several States

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 11, 10:16PM EST · Published Jun 16, 7:38AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Unemployment Remains High In Several States — © Thinkstock

Headline after headline trumpet the fact that U.S. unemployment hit a multi-decade low of 3.8% in May. Most states have matched, or are even below that number. However, in several states, the figure has not fallen close to that low as high joblessness continues to linger.

The unemployment rate in Alaska, at 7.2%, is near recession levels. The rate is 5.6% in the District of Columbia, although it is not a state. The figure is 5.1% in New Mexico, and 5.4% in West Virginia.

The figures have little to do with what people make in these states. The median household income in Alaska is over $73,000, more than $15,000 above the national average. At the other end of the spectrum, median household income in New Mexico is just above $45,000. Some economists would say the number is misleading as a measure of the ability of people to live middle class lives because the cost of living in the state is low. The median household income in West Virginia is $42,000. Only Arkansas and Mississippi are lower.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) gave an overall assessment of state unemployment in May:

Unemployment rates were lower in May in 14 states and stable in 36 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Elevenstates had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier and 39 states and the District had little or no change. The national unemployment rate edged down from April to 3.8 percent and was 0.5 percentage point lower than in May 2017.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 7 states in May 2018 and was essentially unchanged in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Over the year, 35 states added nonfarm payroll jobs and 15 states and the District were essentially unchanged.

Hawaii had the lowest unemployment rate in May, 2.0 percent. Alaska had the highest jobless rate, 7.2 percent. In total, 13 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure of 3.8 percent, 17 states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 20 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

[recirclink id=469109]

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.