BISMARCK — North Dakota's not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in December, Job Service North Dakota reported Tuesday, Jan. 27.
The rate was the nation's ninth-lowest and a drop of one-tenth of a percent from November's figure . While unemployment dropped from November to December, December's total number of unemployed workers was nearly twice as much as December 2019's total.
According to Job Service North Dakota, the state typically experiences a "moderate" increase in unemployment figures between November and December.
The nationwide not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5%.
South Dakota and Nebraska topped the nation with unemployment rates of 3%, Job Service North Dakota noted. Hawai'i's 9.3% unemployment rate led the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Minnesota posted a 4.4% unemployment rate in December.
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North Dakota's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 4.4% in December, lower than the nationwide rate of 6.7%.
The state's non-farm, not-seasonally-adjusted employment decreased by 6.5% from December 2019 to December 2020, Job Service North Dakota said. All major industry sectors posted a year-over-year decrease in employment.
Fargo, the state's largest metropolitan area, posted year-over-year job losses of 3,900. Leisure and hospitality accounted for more than half of the decline with 2,000 jobs lost in Fargo. Educational and health services and mining, logging and construction were the only two industries to post employment increases in the Fargo area, with each industry adding 200 jobs.
Year-over-year job losses were 3,100 in Bismarck and 2,600 in Grand Forks. Roughly one-third of Bismarck's job losses came in the leisure and hospitality sector while half of Grand Forks's job losses were in government.
