BLS: Little Change in State Employment in December

-

Today’s release of December 2025 state employment statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reflects a fairly stagnant labor market across the country. Payrolls were flat in all 50 states m/m and up in only eight states y/y. Unemployment rates inched up in six states m/m but remained unchanged in 44. Hawaii and South Dakota reported the lowest unemployment rates in December at 2.2%, while the District of Columbia had the highest at 6.7%, followed by California at 5.5% and New Jersey at 5.4%. DC also posted one of the largest y/y u-rate increases and the largest y/y employment decline. Its u-rate increased 1.4% in December 2025, topped only by Delaware, which saw a 1.6% increase in its u-rate. Payrolls fell 4.2% y/y in DC, principally due to declines in government employment. Delaware, on the other hand, enjoyed a modest 5,300 y/y increase in payrolls in payrolls, but a 9,600 increase in its labor force pushed up its unemployment rate. Missouri, North Carolina, and South Carolina posted the largest y/y percentage increases in employment in December. In addition to the typical gains in health and education employment, Missouri also saw sizable increases in the government and leisure/hospitality sectors. In the Carolinas, North Carolina’s payroll growth was well distributed, while South Carolina’s was concentrated in the leisure/hospitality sector. 


Source: US BLS


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Philly Fed State Coincident Indexes Solidly in the Green

-
The Philadelphia Fed released its August 2025 State Coincident Indexes today. The August statistics indicate continued economic growth across the majority of the states, with 44 of the 50 states posting index value increases over the prior three months. While five states posted declines, Maryland saw the largest drop with a three-month decrease of 0.6% in its index. This is possibly  the result of an increase in Maryland’s unemployment rate to 3.6% in August from 3.3% in June, and a modest decrease in manufacturing payrolls of 1,500 over the same period.
Read more

This Week’s State Economic Releases

-
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is scheduled to release its August 2025 State Coincident Indexes this Wednesday, September 24. In last month’s release, the Philadelphia Fed reported that over the three month period ending July 2025, these economic indexes had increased in 41 states, decreased in eight, and remained unchanged in one . On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release its annual update of state gross domestic product, personal income, and personal consumption expenditures. In this annual exercise, the BEA typically looks back five years. In last year’s update report, the revisions to these three economic statistics were very modest. It should be noted that Friday’s report will contain both the annual revisions and new estimates of state gross domestic product, personal income, and personal consumption expenditures. This will be the first time that the BEA will be reporting all three of these indicators in one unified release. 
Read more

UNC Charlotte: North Carolina Economy Forecast to Grow 2.1% in 2026

-
The University of North Carolina Charlotte is forecasting real GDP growth of 2.1% for the state in 2026.  In the latest release of its North Carolina Economic Forecast, UNC Charlotte Belk College of Business expects this growth to be led by the information sector at 3.9%, agriculture at 3.8% and mining at 3.5%. The report also forecasts a 1.6% increase in state employment in 2026. While the report identifies a few risks to the forecast, it notes that tariffs are a “wild card”. You can access the press release here and the full forecast report here .
Read more