The Market Employment Summary for October 2021

The unemployment rate fell twice as quickly last month as it did the month before, down from 5.2% to 4.8%.

For context, the unemployment rate has fallen over 3% from a year ago, therefore the current unemployment rate reduction rate is more than 60% faster than the average unemployment rate reduction over the past 12 months. This is a good indication that the numbers are continuing to move in the right direction.

Despite this unemployment rate trend, however, only a little more than 20% of the states experienced gains in their jobs numbers over the past month, while about 6% of states lost jobs and the vast majority (more than 70%) remained stable.

Below we break down the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) market employment summary by state level to reveal ongoing employment trends.

States With the Highest Unemployment Rates

For the third straight month in a row, Nevada tops the list of states with the highest unemployment rates, this time tied with California at 7.5% (down from 7.7% the prior month).

The only state that saw an increase in their unemployment rate last month was Massachusetts, climbing from 5.0% to 5.2% and shifting from just below the national average to just above the national average over the course of the month.

In total, 38% of states had unemployment rates below the national average, while 32% of states had unemployment rates that were higher than the national average.

States With the Lowest Unemployment Rates

Nebraska had the lowest jobless rate at 2.0% last month, followed by Utah at 4.0%. Also of note, Georgia and Nebraska both set record low unemployment levels (since the beginning of this data collection in 1976) at 3.2% and 2.0%, respectively.

The largest percentage reduction in unemployment rate went to Rhode Island, followed by Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana and Wyoming, which each lost from just above to just below half a percentage point from month to month.

Rhode Island also had the second largest year-over-year percentage decrease in unemployment, at -5.7%, bested only by Hawaii at -8.2% and followed by Nevada at -5.5%.

States With New Job Gains

Both Texas and Florida finally surpassed California in raw jobs gains after months of California leading the pack.

Texas reported more than 95,000 new jobs, with Florida close behind at about 85,000 before the much larger gap that stretches to California in the third position with 47K new jobs–just under 50% of Texas’ figure.

Florida also had the largest percentage increase in jobs gains at 1%, followed by Texas and Oklahoma at .8% apiece.

States With Job Losses

There were only three states that reported fewer jobs last month than the month before.

Louisiana lost about 30K jobs, Idaho lost about 4K jobs, and Vermont lost about 3K jobs (-1.6%, -0.6%, and -1.0%, respectively).

Mployer Advisor’s Take:

The transition from late summer to early fall has quickened the pace of economic recovery, and we have reached a level of employment that–in the past–has been a signal of a strong economy. Although the effects of the pandemic continue to take a massive human toll and will likely continue to affect supply chains and more for months to come, the economy as a whole continues to grow in a positive direction.If you would like more specific market summary data, click here to learn more about Mployer Advisor's monthly Market Employment Summary report.

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