Chart: Employment changes over the past 12 months by state
From December 2008 to December 2009, 44 states experienced statistically significant changes in employment, all of which were decreases. This is according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The largest statistically significant job losses occurred in California (‑579,400), Texas (‑276,000), Illinois (‑237,300), Florida (‑232,400) and Michigan (‑207,100).
The smallest statistically significant decreases in employment occurred in South Dakota (‑10,900), Delaware (‑12,100) and Montana (‑13,700).
In December, 13 states experienced statistically significant over-the-month changes in employment, all of which were decreases. The largest statistically significant job losses occurred in California (‑38,800), Ohio (‑16,700) and Illinois (‑16,300). The smallest statistically significant decreases in employment occurred in Vermont (‑2,400), South Dakota (‑3,600) and Montana (‑6,400).
This data is from the Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) program and is seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — December 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 10-0068.