Utah had the lowest jobless rate among all US states in December at 2.2%, the US Bureau of Statistics reported today. The next lowest rates were in North Dakota and South Dakota at 2.3% each.
In addition, Alaska and Pennsylvania posted their lowest job rates since 1976 at 4.3% and 3.9%, respectively.
Nevada, at 5.2%, had the highest unemployment rate among all states in December.
The state with the largest year-over-year decrease in its jobless rate was New Mexico, down two percentage points. The next largest decreases occurred in California and New Jersey, down 1.7 percentage points each. Meanwhile, the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increase occurred in Oklahoma, up 0.6 of a percentage point.