DC posts its record low unemployment rate

FILE - A help-wanted sign hangs in the front window of the Bar Harbor Tea Room, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Bar Harbor, Maine. America’s employers shrugged off high inflation and weakening growth to add 372,000 jobs in June, a surprisingly strong gain that will likely spur the Federal Reserve to keep sharply raising interest rates to try to cool the economy and slow price increases. The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for a fourth straight month, the government said Friday, July 8. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)(AP/Robert F. Bukaty)

When compared to the states, the District still has one of the highest unemployment rates, but it fell to 4.6% in November, the lowest since at least 1976, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and down from 4.8% in October.

Maryland, New Mexico and the District also had the largest month-over-month drop in unemployment rates, falling 0.2%. Maryland’s November unemployment rate was 4.3%.



Virginia still has one of the lowest state unemployment rates, but it rose in November to 2.8%, up from 2.7% in October.

State unemployment numbers are seasonally-adjusted.

Maryland has also added 49,800 jobs in the last year, a job growth rate of 1.9%. Virginia has gained 108,300 jobs in the past year, a job growth rate of 2.7%.

Utah had the lowest state unemployment rate in November, at 2.2%, followed by Minnesota and North Dakota, at 2.3% each. Nevada had the highest state unemployment rate, at 4.9%, followed by Illinois, at 4.7%.

BLS posts monthly state unemployment rates and changes in non-farm payroll online.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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