Maryland posted the lowest jobless rate among all US states in September at 1.6%, the US Bureau of Statistics reported today. The next lowest rates were in North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont at 1.9% each.

The jobless rate in Maryland was its lowest since 1976. In addition, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island posted record low unemployment rates in September at 3.4% and 2.6%, respectively.

Nevada posted the highest unemployment rate among all states in September at 5.4%.

In total, 25 states had unemployment rates lower than the US figure of 3.8%, two states and the District of Columbia had higher rates, and 23 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the national figure.

Among all states, Maryland posted the largest year-over-year unemployment rate decrease in September, down 1.6 percentage points to 1.6%.

Conversely, New Jersey had the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increase among all states in September, up 1.2 percentage points to 4.4%.