Jobless states: The top 10

Unemployment rose in 18 states in May, as well as nationally. Fewer jobs were created than in any other month of the past year. Here’s a look at the top 10 states with the highest unemployment rates.

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The national unemployment rate rose from 8.1 percent in April to 8.2 percent in May, as the jobless rate increased in 18 states, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers added only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in the past 12 months. In this photo, activists protested against corporate greed near the Capitol in Washington in October 2011.

Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images

10. Missouri and Arkansas (tie)

General Motors employees work on a van assembly line at GM’s plant in Wentzville, Mo. GM announced plans in November to build its new midsize Colorado pickup truck at the plant and is adding 1,660 jobs in Wentzville. Manufacturing jobs are increasing in Missouri and Arkansas, where the jobless rate is 7.3 percent.

Jeff Roberson / AP

9. Ohio

Machinist Bob Watters works on a precision part cutter at Astro Manufacturing and Design in Eastlake, Ohio -- one of several manufacturing companies in the state that is currently hiring. Ohio's unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent in May, a significant change from the year before, when it was 8.8 percent.

Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post

7./8. Pennsylvania and Maine (tie)

Pennsylvania and Maine are tied for the seventh-highest unemployment rate in the country, at 7.4 percent. That rate carried over from April to May in Pennsylvania, where a decline in goods producer jobs was offset by a gain of 38,800 jobs in the logging and mining industries. But Maine’s jobless rate fell 0.2 percent, from 7.2 percent in April. A Pennsylvania steelworker is pictured here.

Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post

6. New Jersey

Dealer Elbert Taclan, right, prepares a card game at the opening of the $2.4 billion Revel casino resort in Atlantic City. New Jersey's unemployment rate is hovering at 9.2 percent -- the sixth-highest in the country -- despite adding 9,900 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector in May, partially because of the opening of Revel.

Wayne Parry / AP

5. Washington, D.C.

The District's jobless rate is 9.3 percent -- the fifth-highest in the country. Here, hundreds of people demonstrate in front of Wal-Mart federal government relations offices in the District, calling for the corporation to create more jobs.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

4. North Carolina

President Obama speaks about his proposed American Jobs Act during a visit to North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The state's unemployment rate is 9.4 percent -- the fourth-highest in the country.

Sara D. Davis / Getty Images

3. California

California ranks as the state with the third-highest unemployment rate, currently at 10.8 percent, in spite of job growth in the leisure and hospitality sectors in May. Here, tourists hold onto their hats as they walk on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

2. Rhode Island

A "For Sale" sign is seen outside the boarded-up entrance to the Central Falls Department of Parks and Recreation in Central Falls, R.I. Central Falls is one of a handful of U.S. cities and counties facing fiscal collapse in the wake of the economic recession. Rhode Island has the second-highest jobless rate in the country, after Nevada, at 11 percent.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

1. Nevada

An Elvis impersonator counts his tips on The Strip in Las Vegas, where performers have been hit hard by the economic downturn. In spite of an uptick in leisure and hospitality jobs in Nevada in May, the state's unemployment rate is the highest in the country, at 11.6 percent. That's actually the lowest it's been in Nevada in three years. Las Vegas has the highest jobless rate of the state's three major population centers.

Julie Jacobson / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 21: Statues on display on the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden in The Great Pavilion at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on May 21, 2013 in London, England. The Chelsea Flower Show run by the RHS celebrates its 100th birthday this year. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Photos of the day

Chelsea Flower Show, face transplant in Poland, Oklahoma residents cope with tornado aftermath and more.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 21: Ken Marino, Erica Oyama, Ben Stiller, Chris Harrison, and Mike Rosenstein aceept the Webby Award for 'Burning Love' at the 17th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for The Webby Awards)

Eye on entertainment

Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Emma Stone, Chainz, Tyrese Gibson, Susan Boyle and more.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
SEARCH 'DANAKIL DEPRESSION' FOR ALL

Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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