Regional unemployment number is below national figure

The New England unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently, with Connecticut”™s number half a percentage point higher.

Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown said New England”™s jobless rate declined from a year ago, when it was 5.7 percent.

The national jobless rate and Connecticut”™s were unchanged from August at 5.1 percent and were 0.8 of a percentage point lower than in September 2014. The New England number for September 2012 was 7.3 percent.

New England is one of nine Bureau of Labor Statistics geographic divisions nationwide.

The lowest unemployment rates in New England were New Hampshire at 3.4 percent, Vermont at 3.7 percent and Maine at 4.4 percent. Those states were among 19 with marks lower than the national average.

Twelve states, though none in New England, and the District of Columbia had unemployment rates measurably higher than the national average, the federal report said.

Over the month, Rhode Island (-0.3 of a percentage point) and New Hampshire (-0.2 of a percentage point) both had statistically significant unemployment rate changes and were among the 11 states nationwide with significant jobless rate decreases.

Connecticut and the remaining New England states were among the 39 states and the District of Columbia with unemployment rates not measurably different from those a month earlier.

Over the year, all six New England states had statistically significant unemployment rate decreases, the report said. Rhode Island had the largest decline (-1.8 percent), followed by Maine (-1.2 percent) and Connecticut (-1.1 percent).

Among the nine geographic divisions, the East South Central and Pacific had the highest jobless rates in September, 5.7 percent each.

The West North Central division had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.0 percent.

All divisions except the Mountain West had statistically significant rate declines from a year earlier and West Virginia saw unemployment bump up 1 percent.