By G. SCOTT THOMAS
sthomas@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1618

The recession has pushed New York's unemployment rate up by more than three percentage points - a smaller upswing than most states have suffered.

Newly released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 8 percent of New York's workforce was unemployed last month. That was an increase of 3.3 points from the state's rate of 4.7 percent in September 2007, three months before the official start of the recession.

New York's increase in unemployment was the 18th-smallest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

North Dakota experienced the smallest jump in unemployment, 0.3 percentage points.

Just 3.5 percent of North Dakota's workers were unemployed last month. That was an increase of 0.3 points from the state's rate of 3.2 percent in September 2007.

Every other state experienced a jump in its unemployment rate of at least 1.1 percentage points during the past four years.

North Dakota's reliance on slow-but-steady growth has served it well since the economic downturn. Its direct opposite is Nevada, which boasted a high-flying economy prior to 2007. But the recession caused Americans to scale back their travel plans, severely harming such tourist destinations as Las Vegas and Reno.

Nevada's unemployment rate soared from 4.8 percent in September 2007 to 13.4 percent last month, an increase of 8.6 percentage points.

Four other states suffered upward spikes of at least six points in their jobless rates. Alabama, California and Florida were all up 6.3 points in four years, while Idaho was up 6.0.