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States with the biggest decline in unemployment rates

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, job applications and information for the Gap Factory Store sit on a table during a job fair at Dolphin Mall in Miami. On Thursday, March 30, 2017, the Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dropped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

By Staff Report 1 min read

From January 2017 to January 2018, the biggest declines in unemployment rates were in the South:

1. Alabama: Down 1.8 percentage points, from 5.5 percent to 3.7 percent

2. Tennessee: Down 1.2 percentage points, from 4.5 percent to 3.3 percent

3. Louisiana: Down 1.2 percentage points, from 5.8 percent to 4.6 percent

4. Kentucky: Down 0.9 percentage points, from 5.2 percent to 4.3 percent

5. Texas: Down 0.8 percentage points, from 4.8 percent to 4.0 percent

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics