Unemployment down in 38 states — but still sky high in this one

Payrolls rose in 38 U.S. states in March, indicating improvement in the labor market is broadening. Texas, with a 37,200 increase, and Missouri, at 24,300, showed the biggest gains in employment from February, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The jobless rate fell in 34 states, with the largest decline in New Mexico, where it fell by 0.6 percentage point to 8.1 percent. The report is consistent with government figures released April 1 that showed the nation added 216,000 workers in March, the most since May 2010, and unemployment dropped to a two-year low of 8.8 percent. Improvement in hiring across a wider swath is helping sustain consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. “We're seeing a broadening out in the jobs recovery,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “It gives us more confidence that the labor market is shifting gears.” Florida, North Carolina and Oklahoma rounded out the top five states with the largest increases in employment last month. California, Connecticut, Louisiana and Maryland were among the states with the biggest payroll decreases. North Dakota had the lowest unemployment in the nation, falling to 3.6 percent from 3.7 percent the prior month. Unemployment rose in seven states, including Louisiana and Connecticut. Nevada remained the state with the highest jobless rate at 13.2 percent. Broad Improvement “Most districts reported that labor market conditions were generally stronger than in their last reports,” the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report released April 13. Central bank policy makers will likely keep interest rates near zero and maintain plans to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities by June to boost the pace of growth. An improving jobs outlook is drawing people back into the workforce, causing unemployment to rise in some states. New Jersey's jobless rate rose to 9.3 percent in March, the second straight monthly gain, as more people resumed a search for work, state figures showed. Employers added 4,600 jobs in New Jersey, the second-wealthiest U.S. state by per-capita income. Cutbacks at state and local governments will restrain the recovery. States face projected deficits totaling $112 billion in the next fiscal year because revenue hasn't bounced back from the recession while spending on unemployment and Medicaid has swelled. State and local employment data are derived independently from the national statistics, which are typically released on the first Friday of every month. The state figures are subject to larger sampling errors because they come from smaller surveys, making the national figures more reliable, according to the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics. --Bloomberg News--