Your Workforce Connection
State Unemployment Rate 4.3% for December
Date: 01/22/2010
Bismarck – Job Service North Dakota (JSND) reported that labor statistics released today show North Dakota’s December not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. The rate is 0.6 percentage points higher than prior month, and 0.9 percentage points above the same period of prior year. The state continues to be considerably lower than the national (9.7 percent) rate, which increased 0.3 percentage points over the month. Michael Ziesch, Research Analyst for Job Service stated, “The between month rate increase for the state is not unusual as jobs occurring primarily outside are suspended for the winter. As well, the weather in November was very nice allowing many projects to be completed in that month.”
| N.D. Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Data | |||
| December 2009 | November 2009 | December 2008 | |
| Unemployment Rate | 4.3% | 3.7% | 3.4% |
| Unemployed | 15,517 | 13,080 | 12,273 |
| Employed | 341,336 | 344,685 | 351,089 |
| Labor Force | 356,853 | 357,765 | 363,362 |
In December the seasonally adjusted rate for the nation was 10.0 percent. This was unchanged from the previous month, and 2.6 percentage points above the same month a year ago (7.4 percent). The seasonally adjusted rate for North Dakota was 4.4 percent in December, a 0.3 percentage point increase over prior month (4.1 percent). The state rate is 1.1 percentage points higher than previous year.
The seasonal adjustment process utilizes a statistical adjustment to accommodate predictable fluctuations between months; such as length of daylight and typical weather. Seasonal adjustment allows for comparison between all months of a year.
| Seasonally Adjusted Rates | |||
| December 2009 | November 2009 | December 2008 | |
| North Dakota | 4.4% | 4.1% | 3.3% |
| United States | 10.0% | 10.0% | 7.4% |
Notes:
- The unemployment rate is the percentage of people actively seeking work compared to those in the labor force (employed plus unemployed).
- Data are subject to revision.
- These statistics, produced by the JSND Labor Market Information Center, utilize standard methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as a requirement for use by all states.
- County and substate areas will be posted on 1-27-2010 to the JSND Labor Market Information website: http://www.ndworkforceintelligence.com