North Dakota posted the lowest jobless rate among all US states in March at 2.0%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. South Dakota and Vermont followed closely at 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively.

Conversely, California posted the highest unemployment rate among all states in March at 5.3%, followed by the District of Columbia at 5.2%.  

In total, 23 states had unemployment rates lower than the US figure of 3.8%, five states and DC had higher rates, and 22 states had rates that were not appreciably different from the national figure.

Massachusetts was the only state to record a year-over-year decrease in its jobless rate in March, down 0.6 percentage point to 2.9%.

On the flip side, the largest year-over-year unemployment rate increases occurred in Rhode Island, up 1.3 percentage points to 4.0% and Connecticut, up 1.1 percentage points to 4.5%.