That is well above the national average of 6.2 percent and leaves California with the third-highest rate of joblessness among the big industrial states.

New Jersey had the third-highest rate.

Louisiana has the third-highest rate of poverty among children, the professors wrote, and New Orleans, the state's glistening jewel, is the country's third-poorest city.

New Orleans also has the nation's highest rate of abandoned housing and the third-highest rates for single-mother households and births to teen-agers.

Sweden got underway in the early 1840s, and had the third-highest rate in all of Europe, after Ireland and Norway.

Most of all, the event reflects the sense of self-reliance of the residents of a county with the third-highest rate of unemployment in the state.

The $25,000-to-$49,999 group had the third-highest rate of increase, rising 40 percent to 26.4 million Web users.

In 1998, Arkansas had the third-highest rate (6.1 per 1,000 people), behind Nevada with 8.5 and Tennessee with 6.4.

It is the state with Mexico's third-highest rate of migration to the United States.

California on average has the third-highest rates in the nation after New Jersey and Alaska.