Tim Henderson

(Stateline) September unemployment rates rose in 25 states and fell in 21 compared with last year, the government reported Dec. 11 in a shutdown-delayed analysis.

The largest increase compared with September 2024 was in Oregon, where the rate rose from 4.2% to 5.2%, followed by the District of Columbia, increasing from 5.3% to 6.2% and Delaware, up from 3.6% to 4.5%.

The largest drops were in Indiana, down from 4.4% to 3.7%, Illinois (5.0% to 4.4%) and Kentucky (5.3% to 4.7%). Montana held at 3%.

Nationally unemployment rose to 4.4% from 4.1% last year and the number of unemployed people looking for work increased from 6.9 million to 7.6 million. Septembe r saw a better-than-expected increase of 119,000 in payroll jobs compared to August, after a loss of 4,000

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