What was the national unemployment rate in 2014?

The national unemployment rate in 2014 ranged from 5.6 percent in December to 6.7 percent in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February 2014, Rhode Island had the highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 8.4 percent, while North Dakota had the lowest rate at 2.7 percent.

Unemployment by race showed that African Americans had the highest unemployment rate of all races, those with no high school diploma had the highest rate of all education levels, and teenagers had the highest unemployment rate by age. Similarly, younger workers experience a disproportionate increase in unemployment during recessions. In 2014, college graduates increasingly entered lower-level jobs.