In 2008, Michigan reported the highest unemployment rate at 8.4 percent, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
Rhode Island (7.8 percent) and California (7.2 percent) had the next highest rates in 2008.
The annual average U.S. jobless rate was 5.8 percent in 2008. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia recorded rates significantly above it.
This data is from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. To learn more, see "Regional and State Unemployment, 2008 Annual Averages," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 09-0186.
