State unemployment rates drop

The unemployment rate dropped in 41 states in September, according to new federal data. The drop in state-based unemployment numbers mirrors a decline in the nationwide unemployment rate in September from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent, The Washington Post reports.

States reporting a decline in their unemployment rate included: Colorado, from 8.2 percent in August to 8 percent in September; Ohio, from 7.2 percent to 7 percent; North Carolina, from 9.7 percent to 9.6 percent; Wisconsin, from 7.5 percent to 7.3 percent; Florida, from 8.8 percent to 8.7 percent; Iowa, from 5.5 percent to 5.2 percent; Nevada, from 21.1 percent to 11.8 percent; Georgia, from 9.2 percent to 9 percent; Louisiana, from 7.4 percent to 7 percent; California, from 10.6 percent to 10.2 percent; South Carolina, from 9.6 percent to 9.1 percent; and New York, from 9.1 percent to 8.9 percent.

The unemployment rate stayed the same in New Hampshire, 5.7 percent, and Virginia, 5.9 percent. Both states already had unemployment rates below the national average.

State unemployment rates also were lower than this time last year. Twenty-one states showed what the Bureau of Labor Statistics called “statistically significant” drops in unemployment from September 2011 to September 2012. Those states included Arizona, from 9.4 percent in September 2011 to 8.2 percent in September, 2012; Arkansas, from 8.1 percent to 7.1 percent; Illinois, from 10.1 percent to 8.8 percent; Mississippi, from 10.9 percent to 9.2 percent; North Carolina, from 10.7 percent to 9.6 percent; Ohio, from 8.6 percent to 7 percent; and Missouri, from 8.5 percent to 6.9 percent.