12 Month Change in State Unemployment Rates click here to view map

• The national unemployment rate was unchanged in December at 10.0 percent but was 2.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
• Michigan again recorded the highest unemployment rate among the states, 14.6 percent in December.
• The states with the next highest rates were Nevada, 13.0 percent; Rhode Island, 12.9 percent; and South Carolina, 12.6 percent.
• The rate in the District of Columbia also set a new high for the region at 12.1 percent.
• According to CNN the report marked the first time every state recorded a rise in monthly unemployment since the bureau began keeping such records in 1976.
• All states and the District of Columbia recorded statistically significant increases in their jobless rates from December 2008. The largest of these increases were in Nevada and West Virginia (+4.6 percentage points each)