The regional and state unemployment rate in the U.S. saw little change during June, but for 22 states and Washington D.C., the unemployment rate declined.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 22 states and the District of Columbia had their unemployment rate decrease, but 14 states saw increases. The remaining 14 states saw no change to their unemployment rate.

Regionally, the western U.S. continued to have the highest unemployment rate with 6.7 percent. The Midwest had the lowest rate with 5.9 percent. Although the West has the highest regional unemployment rate, it -- along with the Northeast -- saw significant unemployment declines from May with 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. Compared to last year, all regions of the U.S. saw unemployment decreases led by the Northeast's 1.5 percent decrease, Midwest and West's 1.4 percent, each, and the South's 1.2 percent.

Though the overall U.S. unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, Mississippi and Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rates in the country with 7.9 percent, each. North Dakota had the lowest rates during June with 2.7 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted 17 states have unemployment rates "significantly" lower than the U.S. average while 8 states and D.C. have "measureable higher" figures. For the remaining 25 states, the unemployment rate was not "appreciably different" from the U.S. rate.

The states that saw significant employment gains from May to June were California, Florida and New York. Latinos also heavily populate the three aforementioned states. According to Pew Research, California, Florida and New York -- along with Arizona, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey and Texas -- represent 74 percent of the entire Latino population of the U.S.

In California, the Latino population surpassed non-Hispanic whites with 39 percent to 38.8 percent, respectively. Pew Research Center noted Texas could be the next state to have more Latinos than other races. In the Lone-Star State, Latinos represent 38.2 percent of the population while non-Hispanic whites made up 44.4 percent. Florida ranked third with 4.5 million, or 23.2 percent, Hispanic residents, the third-largest Hispanic state.

Of the three states, Florida saw the highest job gains with 37,000 while California and New York followed with 24,000 and 22,000 jobs, respectively. Although California, Florida and New York saw the most employment gains, the states' unemployment figures are above the U.S. 6.1 percent. In California, the unemployment rate is 7.4 percent. New York's unemployment rate is 6.6 percent. Florida was 0.1 percent higher than the U.S. average with 6.2 percent.

Based on year-over-year employment changes, Texas did manage to gain more jobs with 371,000 while Florida finished third with 237,500 employment gains. New York added 115,000 jobs.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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