California’s jobless rate decreased 2.1 percentage points over the year ended October 2022

California’s jobless rate decreased 2.1 percentage points over the year ended October 2022. This was the largest decrease for any state over the year. It was followed by New Jersey, where the jobless rate decreased by 2.0 percentage points.

In total, 39 states and the District of Columbia had jobless rate decreases from a year earlier and 10 states had little change. Oklahoma was the only state that saw its jobless rate increase between October 2021 and October 2022. There, the jobless rate increased 0.5 percentage point. The national unemployment rate, which rose to 3.7 percent over the month, was 0.9 percentage point lower than in October 2021.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "State Employment and Unemployment — October 2022.” We also have more charts and maps on state employment and unemployment. Estimates for the most recent month are preliminary.