Unemployment rate rises in 24 states

Unemployment rates ticked up in almost half the states last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday. 

Some 3.7% of workers nationwide were unemployed and looking for jobs in October, the agency said. That rate is 0.9 percentage points lower than a year before, but 0.2 percentage points higher than in September. 

The monthly increase, although small, could be a sign that economic growth is slowing. Federal Reserve officials have been lifting interest rates for months in a bid to cool the economy and reduce inflation. 

Of the 24 states where jobless rates rose from September to October, Maryland had the largest increase, according to the BLS. Rates there rose from 4% to 4.5%, or 0.5 percentage points. Rates rose 0.3 percentage points in Oregon and Rhode Island, bringing the jobless rates in those states to 4.1% and 3.4%, respectively. 

Rates were stable in the remaining states and fell slightly in Pennsylvania, from 4.1% to 4.0%.

Unemployment rates were lower or unchanged in almost every state compared to last year, however. Only Oklahoma has experienced a statistically significant increase, according to the BLS, rising from 2.9% last October compared to 3.4% last month.