Unemployment rate in western US exceeds 10 percent

In the month of May unemployment in the West exceeded 10 percent for the first time as it reported an unemployment rate of 10.1 percent.

According to reports from the Labor Department, 48 states and the District of Columbia saw a deterioration in employment conditions.

The fallout from the longest recession since World War II, was the worst in Michigan as automakers cut tens of thousands of jobs. Its unemployment rate rose to 14.1 percent.

The last time any region had a rate of at least 10 percent was September 1983, when the country was emerging from a severe recession.

An increased number of companies are laying off workers in a bid to cut costs which has sent the economy’s jobless rate soaring.

The national unemployment rate last month was 9.4 percent, and 17 states and the District of Columbia recorded rates that were higher. In 15 states and the District of Columbia rates were greater than 10 percent, meaning that in those states at least one in 10 people does not have a job.

In Nebraska, the rate edged down to 4.4 percent from 4.5 in April while the rate in Vermont was unchanged at 7.3 percent.

California registered its highest unemployment rate on record, 11.5 percent, and also lost the most jobs, 68,900, of all the states in May, followed by Florida, which lost 61,000.