Between July and August, national unemployment continued to drop, reaching 8.4% as employers added 1.4 million jobs. Recent state-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that total employment increased in most states, although job numbers remain low compared to August of last year.
Unemployment declined between July and August in 45 states, staying the same in Michigan and Washington, DC and increasing in Arkansas, Rhode Island, and Kentucky. Unemployment rates in all states and Washington, DC were still higher than they were in August 2019, with 12 states reporting an increase of five or more percentage points compared to the previous year.
