WASHINGTON (AP) — The unemployment rates in eight states hit record-highs last month and only two — Nebraska and Vermont — did not report increases.
The Labor Department says 48 states and the District of Columbia saw employment conditions deteriorate last month. The fallout from the longest recession since World War II, was the worst in Michigan. Its unemployment rate rose to 14.1 percent.
The eight states that set records are: California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.
The West region reported the highest jobless rate at 10.1 percent. The last time any region had a rate of at least 10 percent was September 1983, when the country was emerging from a severe recession.
Nebraska's jobless rate dipped last month, Vermont's was flat.
