USA Today (12/21/12) Paul Davidson

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says 45 states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates drop in November, while the jobless rate held steady in five states. The biggest declines were recorded in Louisiana, where the unemployment rate slipped from 6.6% to 5.8%, and Nevada, where the rate fell from 11.5% to 10.8%. Nevada and Rhode Island had the highest jobless rates, while North Dakota’s 3.1% rate was the lowest. The national unemployment rate dipped to 7.7% from 7.9%, which does not indicate robust job growth as 350,000 U.S. workers exited the labor force last month.