Unemployment: The Worst-Hit States In July (MAP)

The state-by-state unemployment numbers didn't change too much from June to July, the government announced on Friday. Fifteen states still have jobless rates above 10 percent, down from 16 in June.

The government announced two weeks ago that the national unemployment rate fell from 9.5 to 9.4 percent, although that may have been a statistical aberration.

Michigan continues to lead the nation in unemployment, with a rate of 15 percent, down from 15.2 percent in June. Rhode Island came in second at 12.7 percent (up from 12.4), followed by Nevada at 12.5 percent (up from 11.9). The largest increases occurred in Wyoming and Arizona, where unemployment rose from 5.9 to 6.5 percent and from 8.7 to 9.2 percent, respectively. Seventeen states saw their unemployment rates decline from June to July.

"There's a lot of areas that are worse than these numbers show. There are much higher rates among African-Americans and the Hispanic population," said Doug Hall, director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at the Economic Policy Institute. "There's real people represented in these abstract numbers."

Here's a chart from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the damage.

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