There are only three states in America with lower unemployment rates than Utah.

In a recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Utah was rated to have an unemployment rate of just 2.4 percent.

That's low -- really low. Basically, if you want a job in the Beehive State, you should be able to find one.

Two states, the Dakotas (North and South) come in with the low, low rate of just 2.1 percent, and a third state, Nebraska, is at 2.3 percent.

The national average is just over four percent, with some of the worst states being California (4.3), Delaware (4.6), Illinois (4.5), Oregon (4.7), Pennsylvania (4.4) and Washington (4.6).

But there is one king when it comes to people out of work. Nevada checks in at a whopping 5.5 percent unemployment. Utah's neighbor sees this as a growing problem.

These numbers are based on the amount of unemployment claims filed, so it may be that Nevada is just better at making claims and processing them, but the fact of the matter is Nevada officials have noted that the problem is serious enough throw $72-million into its unemployment system.

But even Nevada's relatively high number is nothing compared with some historical unemployment issues that we've had in the United States.

Unemployment reached 25 percent during the great depression (1930s) and more recently, the USA has seen some spikes in unemployment.

It was as high as 14.7 percent in 2020 during the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic and was at 10.8 percent in late 1982.

Still, it would be nice if everyone who wanted a job could get one.

During World War I, US unemployment was just one percent and was about 1.2 percent during the second world war.

In more modern times, the nation had just 3.6 percent unemployment in 2023.

Wiki defines unemployment as

  • If they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.
  • Workers expecting to be recalled from layoff are sometimes counted as unemployed, depending on the specific interviewer. They are expected to be counted whether or not they have engaged in a specific job-seeking activity.
  • In all other cases, the individual must have been engaged in at least one active job search activity in the 4 weeks preceding the interview and be available for work (except for temporary illness) in order to be counted as unemployed.
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