The December 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicates that unemployment in most states and in the US as a whole has fallen slightly. The US as a whole stands at 7.0% rate of seasonally adjusted unemployment, while Maryland has improved from 6.7% to 6.4%. Surprising low unemployment rates under 6% apply in Kansas and Oklahoma. North and South Dakota continue to have the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, driven largely by the petroleum industry.
To compare, unemployment in 2000 nationwide was 4.0% and in 2006 was 4.6%; it reached 9.6% in 2010; see the BLS historical data on unemployment for comparison.
