August Unemployment Rate Fall Eight States and Washington DC

10:19 AM EDT, 09/18/2026 (MT Newswires) -- State-level data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday showed the unemployment rate fell in eight states and Washington DC in August but held steady elsewhere. The largest unemployment rate declines were in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Nevada, Mississippi and Washington, DC where it fell by 0.2 percentage point in each state. South Dakota had the lowest rate at 2% while Washington DC had the highest at 5.7%. The national unemployment rate was reported at 4.1% in August, the same as in July. Nonfarm payrolls rose in four states and were little changed elsewhere. The largest payrolls gain in absolute terms was in California, which added 39,400 jobs, followed by Wisconsin with 11,800.