Unemployment rates edge up in Maryland, DC

Maryland still has one of the lowest state unemployment rates in the U.S., but it ticked up in January.

When compared to states, the D.C. still has one of the highest unemployment rates, and it also rose in January.

Unemployment data from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the jobless rate in Maryland was 2.3% in January, up from 2.2% in December, but lower than a year earlier, when it was 2.4%.

D.C.’s January unemployment rate was 5%, up from 4.9% in both December 2023 and January 2023.

Virginia’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 3%, and lower than 3.1% a year earlier.

North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate in January, at 1.9%, followed by South Dakota, at 2.1%. Nevada had the highest unemployment rate in January at 5.3%, followed by California at 5.2%.

The national unemployment rate in January was 3.7%. State unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted.

The District did have one of the strongest year-over-year job growth rates at 2.9%, or 11,054 more jobs than a year earlier. Maryland’s job growth rate was 1%, or 30,321 jobs. Virginia’s annual job growth rate was 1.55 or 69,596 jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics posts monthly and yearly unemployment rate changes by state, as well as changes in the civilian workforce, online.

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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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