WASHINGTON — A delayed decline in home prices and drops in manufacturing and tourism have caused unemployment in western mountain states to rise faster in the past year than in any other region.

The jobless rate in the eight-state Mountain West region has jumped to 9.3 percent from 8.7 percent a year ago. That's still lower than the 9.6 percent national average. But the gap is narrowing with the rest of the nation.

The lagging pace represents a sharp turnaround for a region that had been growing at a healthy pace before the recession.

A rush of young people and California transplants helped make the region — covering ground from New Mexico to Montana — one of the fastest-growing parts of the country in the past decade.

After previous recessions, the region has usually benefited from rebounds in home building, tourism, and other service industries, said Addison Franz, an assistant economist at Moody's Analytics.

But those trends haven't helped this time. Consumers around the country are still cautious and housing is still weak.