Misery loves company

Thirty states, including California, saw their unemployment rates go up in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The numbers were held up by the government's annual benchmarking process in which earlier data gets adjusted. February numbers are due out on March 26. Not much stands out in this report - Michigan once again tops the field at 14.3 percent (though that's down from the previous month) and North Dakota enjoys the nation's lowest jobless rate, at 4.2 percent.

1)Michigan 14.3%
2)Nevada 13%
3)Rhode Island 12.7%
4)South Carolina 12.6%
5)California 12.5%

As for the separately prepared payroll survey, California led the way, with an additional 32,500 jobs (weird because L.A. County reported a big job loss for the month). Among other notables:

--Illinois + 26,000
--New York +25,500
--Washington +18,900
--Minnesota +15,600
--Virginia +13,500
--Missouri -12,800
--Kentucky -11,800

Here's the BLS release.