News release: “Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in May. Twenty-four states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 13 states and the District of Columbia registered rate increases, and 13 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, four states reported increases, and three states had no change. The national jobless rate was essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent, but was 0.5 percentage point lower than a year earlier…The West reported the highest regional unemployment rate in May, 10.3 percent, while the Northeast and Midwest recorded the lowest rates, 8.0 and 8.1 percent, respectively. The West was the only region to experience a statistically significant over-the-month rate change (-0.1 percentage point). All four regions registered significant rate decreases from a year earlier: the Midwest (-1.5 percentage points), Northeast (-0.8 point), West (-0.7 point), and South (-0.5 point).