July 18 (Bloomberg) — Payrolls rose in 33 states in June and the unemployment rate fell in 22, adding to signs the labor market was making progress in the world's largest economy.
Florida led the nation with a 37,400 increase in payrolls, followed by California with 24,200 more jobs, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington.
Advances in hiring across a broad swathe of the country help lift consumer confidence and spur household spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy. Growth is poised to accelerate in the second half of 2014 after payroll gains exceeded 200,000 in June for the fifth straight month and the jobless rate fell to an almost six-year low of 6.1 percent.
Recommended For You
"We're going to continue to see strong employment growth through the end of the year," Gennadiy Goldberg, a U.S. strategist at TD Securities USA LLC in New York, said before the report. "Bigger payroll gains translate into more spending power for the consumer. It ties into the outlook for a stronger economy in the second half."
Illinois was among states with the biggest decrease in unemployment as the rate fell to 7.1 percent from 7.5 percent in May, today's report showed. Joblessness in Colorado, Rhode Island and Washington declined by 0.3 percentage point.
The drop in unemployment in Rhode Island meant it was no longer alone as the state with the highest jobless rate. Mississippi shared that distinction with a rate of 7.9 percent, the same as Rhode Island.
Least unemployment
North Dakota continued to have the lowest unemployment in the nation, at 2.7 percent.
State and local employment data are derived independently from the national statistics, which are typically released on the first Friday of every month. The state figures are subject to larger sampling errors because they come from smaller surveys, thus making the national figures more reliable, according to the government's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In today's report, other states showing gains in employment included New York, which showed a 22,500 increase.
Georgia, West Virginia and Alaska showed the biggest declines in employment last month.
The improvement in the job market is among reasons Federal Reserve officials are trimming monthly asset purchases and plan to wind down the stimulus program by the end of the year. They have also indicated they'll keep the benchmark interest rate close to zero for a considerable time.
Yellen's view
"While we're making progress in the labor market, we haven't achieved our goal," Fed Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers earlier this week. Until the economy overcomes "substantial headwinds," the Fed should pursue "an accommodative monetary policy," she said.
The break-out for state jobs released today is in sync with Labor Department data on July 3 that showed employers added 288,000 jobs in June, lifting the average monthly advance so far in 2014 to almost 231,000. If that pace is sustained, job gains this year would be the best since 1999.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
