The November State Unemployment Breakdown

Nevada, California and Michigan Post Highest Unemployment Rates in November

The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) released their "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary" for November earlier today.

According to the BLS, 21 states and the District of Columbia posted unemployment rate increases in November, 15 states posted unemployment rate decreases, and the remaining 14 states posted no change. Nonfarm payroll employment fell in 28 states, rose in 20 states and remained unchanged in 2 states in November.

The states with the highest unemployment rates in November were the usual suspects - Nevada (14.3%), California (12.4%) and Michigan (12.4%).

Nevada saw a decrease in its unemployment rate in October for the first time since December of 2005 (yes, seriously) as their state unemployment rate dropped from 14.4% to 14.2%. Were they finally starting to recover? Not so fast, as Nevada's unemployment rate actually rose to 14.3% in November. The state is no longer in freefall when it comes to their unemployment situation, but they are certainly not climbing out from the bottom of the dark economic chasm that they have fallen into just yet.

California posted an unemployment rate of 12.4% for the fourth straight month.. Michigan, which had the nation's highest unemployment rate at the start of the year (14.3% in January), has seen its unemployment rate drop by 0.6% over the past two months.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, North Dakota (3.8%), South Dakota (4.5%), Nebraska (4.6%) and New Hampshire (5.4%) continue to have the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

In terms of regional unemployment, the West continued to lead the way with an unemployment rate of 10.9%, while the Northeast recorded the lowest rate at 8.5%.