North Dakota unemployment rate up to not-seasonally-adjusted 5 percent in January

BISMARCK – Job Service North Dakota reported that labor statistics released today show North Dakota’s January not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. The rate is 0.7 percentage points higher than prior month, and 0.2 percentage points below the same period of prior year.

The state continues to be considerably lower than the national (10.6 percent) January rate.

Michael Ziesch, Research Analyst for Job Service stated, “With the production of January 2010 estimates, we have the ability to compare the annual averages of prior years. For calendar year 2009, the state realized an average unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, which was an increase from 2008 of 1.1 percentage points. During the same two time periods, the nation’s rate increased from 5.8 to 9.3 percent, a 3.5 percentage point gain.”

In January, the seasonally adjusted rate for the nation was 9.7 percent. This was a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the previous month, and 2.0 percentage points above the same month a year ago (7.7 percent). The seasonally adjusted rate for North Dakota was 4.2 percent in January, little changed from prior month (4.3 percent), and 0.2 percentage points above January 2009. The seasonal adjustment process utilizes a statistical adjustment to accommodate predictable fluctuations between months; such as length of daylight and typical weather. Seasonal adjustment allows for comparison between all months of a year.

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