The Market Employment Summary for December 2021

Weller Emmons

VP of Analytics and Finance at Mployer Advisor. He is passionate about leveraging data to provide industry leading insights for Mployer Advisor’s clients. Prior to joining Mployer Advisor, Emmons served as a healthcare provider strategy consultant for Knowledge Capital Group and as an internal strategy consultant at HCA Healthcare. Emmons earned his MBA and BE in Biomedical Engineering, both from Vanderbilt University.

Market Employment Summary

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Editor's Note: This report is based on survey data from November 2021 that was published in December 2021. This is the most recent data available. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

The national unemployment rate fell by 0.4% last month down to 4.2%, which is twice the rate of the 0.2% reduction registered the month before.

The reduction in unemployment was spread across a greater number of states last month, with 40 states seeing reduced unemployment numbers while only 30 states saw their unemployment numbers drop the previous month.

At the same time, however, only 16 states saw significant increases in their jobs numbers while the rest remained largely stable, signaling that those gains were not necessarily experienced as broadly across the country.

Below is the breakdown of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) market employment summary for December 2021.

States With the Highest Unemployment Rates

California and Nevada remain the states with the highest unemployment rates, continuing the trend of trading places at the top of the list. As of last month, California was at 6.9% unemployment, while Nevada was at 6.8%.

Across the country, states were split fairly evenly on how each state’s unemployment rate compared to the national average. In total, 19 states beat the national average; 17 states and Washington, D.C. had an unemployment rate somewhat higher than the national average; and 15 states closely matched the national rate.

Counties With the Highest Unemployment Rates

Yet again, Imperial, California was the county with the highest unemployment rate despite a positive drop down to 18.3%

Only 2 other counties in the U.S. remain above 15% unemployment: Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, and Jefferson, Mississippi. Combined, these counties represent a labor pool of fewer than 5,000 people.

Among counties with more than 100,000 employed residents, Bronx, New York, remains the county with the highest unemployment rate. Although the employment situation in the Bronx continues to improve, it is not doing so as quickly as other counties and climbed from the 13th to the 10th position for the highest unemployment rate.

States With the Lowest Unemployment Rates

Nebraska continued its dominance as the state with the lowest unemployment rate (1.8%) for the third straight month, although its month-to-month rate reduction was significantly smaller last month than the month before (0.1% reduction last month compared to a 0.4% reduction previously).

Even more impressive, for the second straight month Nebraska is joined by Georgia, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia in setting in-state records for the lowest unemployment rate since this data collection began in the mid-1970s. Those rates are 2.8% (Georgia), 2.5% (Oklahoma), 2.1% (Utah), and 4% (West Virginia).

Regarding month-to-month changes, Arizona and Mississippi experienced the largest rate decreases, with a .5% reduction each. The largest year-to-year rate reductions were experienced by Hawaii at -4.3% and New Jersey, Massachusetts, and West Virginia at -3% reductions.

Counties With the Lowest Unemployment Rates

One month ago, Nebraska claimed 82 of the top 100 counties in the U.S. with the lowest unemployment rates–a noteworthy fact given that Nebraska boasts 96 counties within its borders.

Over the intervening month, not only has Nebraska added another county to that list, but also the state can now claim every single county resides in the top 10.

Texas County, Oklahoma, continues to be the county with the lowest unemployment rate among counties with a labor pool of at least 10k people, while Cache, Utah has the lowest rate among counties larger than 50k. What’s more, Lancaster, Nebraska, has the lowest rate among counties with more than 100k workers.

States With New Job Gains

Florida edged out New York last month to join California and Texas among the top three states with the most new jobs added, with each adding about 51k, 46k, and 75k, respectively.

After North Dakota at plus 0.8%, which was the largest percentage increase in jobs from month to month, Florida and Texas (alongside Montana and New Jersey) tied for the second-highest month-to-month improvement at 0.6% each.

Mployer Advisor's Take:

Metrics continue to trend in the right direction, but the bigger test of the economy’s resilience will likely come in the months ahead. With uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant and federal spending priorities, the range of outcomes we may experience on the jobs front could be fairly wide.

Looking for more exclusive content? Check out the Mployer Advisor blog, or review last month's market employment summary here.