The BLS released state and regional unemployment numbers today as well as information on mass layoffs.

In April, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 38 states and the District of Columbia and decreased in 12 states.

18 states experienced statistically significant increases in employment; 4 states had statistically significant decreases in employment.

In April, 12 states recorded statistically significant unemployment rate decreases

This is actually some reasonably good news for the actual number of jobs increased, which implies less people are simply falling off the rolls and not being counted. Note the different between statistically significant and minor changes, so while the tile sounds great, it's actually only 18 states instead of 34.

Michigan again recorded the highest unemployment rate among the states, 14.0 percent in April. The states with the next highest rates were Nevada, 13.7 percent; California, 12.6 percent; and Rhode Island, 12.5 percent. North Dakota continued to register the lowest jobless rate, 3.8 percent, followed by South Dakota and Nebraska, 4.7 and 5.0 percent, respectively. The rate in Nevada set a new series high.

Note how Nevada is rivaling Michigan as unemployment ground zero. On the other hand, mass layoffs increased by 228 in comparison to last month. That's the official number, reported and includes 50 workers or more in each one.

Employers took 1,856 mass layoff actions in April that resulted in the separation of 200,870 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in April increased by 228 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims in- creased by 50,006. In April, 448 mass layoff events were reported in the manu- facturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 63,616 initial claims.

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The largest over-the-month increase in employment occurred in Ohio (+37,300), followed by Pennsylvania (+34,000), New York (+32,700), Texas (+32,500), and Virginia (+28,100). Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, and Virginia experienced the largest over-the-month percentage increases in employ- ment (+0.8 percent each), followed by Alabama and Ohio (+0.7 percent each). The largest over-the-month decreases in employment occurred in Maine (-6,500), Rhode Island (-4,400), Colorado (-4,200), and New Hampshire (-4,100). Maine experienced the largest over-the-month percentage decrease in employment (-1.1 percent), followed by Rhode Island (-1.0 percent), New Hampshire (-0.7 percent), Vermont (-0.6 percent), and Alaska (-0.5 percent). Over the year, nonfarm employment decreased in 48 states and increased in 2 states and the District of Columbia. The largest over-the-year percentage decreases occurred in Nevada (-3.5 percent), Rhode Island (-2.7 percent), Colorado (-2.6 percent), and California (-2.5 percent).