Unemployment Rose in 30 States in January

While the national unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 10 percent in January, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday that 30 states actually had increased unemployment rates that month.

Five states reported record-high unemployment, including California (12.5 percent), South Carolina (12.6 percent), Florida (11.9 percent), North Carolina (11.1 percent) and Georgia (10.4 percent). The state with the highest unemployment rate remains Michigan at 14.3 percent. It’s followed by Nevada (13 percent), Rhode Island (12.7 percent).

North Dakota had the country’s lowest unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and was followed by Nebraska (4.6 percent) and South Dakota (4.8 percent).

The good news is this was a better performance than in December when 43 states reported higher jobless rates. Additionally, 31 states added jobs in January, an increase from 11 states in December.