In January, 187 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, up from 86 areas a year earlier, while 38 areas posted
rates below 7.0 percent, down from 107 areas in January 2009. Three areas in California registered the highest unemployment rates: El Centro, 27.3 percent; Merced, 21.7 percent; and Yuba City, 20.8 percent. Among the 35 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, 15 were located in California and 6 were in Michigan. Fargo, N.D.-Minn., and Bismarck, N.D., registered the lowest unemployment rates in January, 4.8 and 4.9 percent, respectively. Overall, 159 areas recorded unemployment rates above the U.S. figure of 10.6 percent, 210 areas reported rates below it, and 3 areas had rates equal to that of the nation.
Rockford, Ill., registered the largest jobless rate increase from January 2009 (+5.8 percentage points). The areas with the next largest rate in-
creases were Peoria, Ill., and Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (+5.5 percentage points each); Decatur, Ill. (+5.2 points); and Farmington, N.M. (+5.1 points). All five areas experienced job losses in the goods-producing sector over the year. Six additional areas recorded jobless rate increases of 4.0 percentage points or more. Kokomo, Ind., reported the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease in January (-4.1 percentage points), followed by Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-3.6 points). Both of these areas had unemployment rate increases of greater than 10.0 percentage points between January 2008 and January 2009. Five other areas posted over-the-year unemployment rate decreases, all of which were less than 1.0 percentage point.
Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., reported the highest unemployment rates in January, 15.6 and 15.0 percent, respectively. Twenty-three additional large areas posted rates of 10.0 percent or more. The large areas with the lowest jobless rates in January were Oklahoma City, Okla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 6.7 and 6.9 percent, respectively. All 49 large areas registered over-the-year unemployment rate increases, the largest of which occurred in three Florida areas: Jacksonville (+3.7 percentage points) and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (+3.6 points each).
Metropolitan Division Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are composed of 34 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers. In January, the two divisions that comprise the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., metropolitan area registered the highest jobless rates: Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 16.4 percent, and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 15.0 percent. The division with the next highest rate was Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 14.6 percent. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md., reported the lowest unemployment rate among the divisions, 6.4 percent, followed by Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 7.1 percent. These two divisions make up the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., metropolitan area.
In January, all 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year jobless rate increases of at least 1.0 percentage point. Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis., and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla., experienced the largest rate increases (+4.0 and +3.5 percentage points, respectively). Four other divisions had rate increases of 3.0 percentage points or more: Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill., Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H. (+3.2 points each), and Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, Calif. (+3.0 points).
In 5 of the 11 metropolitan areas that contain divisions, the ranges between the highest and lowest division jobless rates were 2.0 percentage points or more in January. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H., posted the largest rate difference among its divisions, 6.7 percentage points (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 14.6 percent, compared with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 7.9 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In January, among the 371 metropolitan areas for which nonfarm payroll data were available, 346 areas reported over-the-year decreases in nonfarm payroll employment, 24 reported increases, and 1 remained unchanged. The largest over-the-year employment decrease was recorded in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (-248,600), followed by New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (-224,200), Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. (-174,700), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. (-103,100). The largest over-the-year percentage losses in employment were reported in Odessa, Texas (-10.1 percent), Grand Junction, Colo., and Yuma, Ariz. (-9.2 percent each), and Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (-8.9 percent).
The largest over-the-year increases in employment occurred in Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash. (+3,300), Ocean City, N.J. (+1,900), Bismarck, N.D. (+1,200), and College Station-Bryan, Texas (+1,100). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were reported in Ocean City, N.J. (+5.8 percent), Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash. (+3.6 percent), Sandusky, Ohio (+3.1 percent), Kokomo, Ind. (+2.4 percent), and Bismarck, N.D.(+2.0 percent).
Over the year, nonfarm employment declined in all 36 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2009. The largest over-the-year percentage decreases in employment in these large metropolitan areas were posted in Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (-7.3 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (-6.3 percent), Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz. (-5.5 percent), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. (-5.3 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in January 2010 for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within a metropolitan area. All 32 metropolitan divisions reported over-the-year employment losses. The largest over-the-year employment decrease in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (-176,500), followed by Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. (-149,900), New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (-140,300), and Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-72,100).
The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the metropolitan divisions was reported in Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, Calif., and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla. (-5.4 percent each), followed by San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif., and Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-5.1 percent each), and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-4.9 percent).
