Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, 157 metropolitan areas reported unemployment rates below 4.0 percent, up from 131 areas a year earlier, while 18 areas posted rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 25 areas in April 2006. Billings, Mont., and Logan, Utah-Idaho, had the lowest unemployment rates, 1.7 and 1.9 percent, respectively. Four heavily agricultural areas registered the highest jobless rates in April: El Centro, Calif., 16.3 percent; Yuma, Ariz., 13.0 percent; Merced, Calif., 10.4 percent; and Yuba City, Calif., 10.3 percent. Overall, 205 areas recorded unemployment rates below the U.S. figure of 4.3 percent, 153 areas had higher rates, and 11 areas had the same rate.
Two Mississippi areas severely affected by Hurricane Katrina continued to report the largest over-the-year jobless rate decreases in April: Gulfport-Biloxi and Pascagoula (-5.9 and -2.2 percentage points, respectively). The hurricane struck in August 2005 and sharply raised unemployment rates in these areas in subsequent months. Thirty-two additional areas had rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more. El Centro, Calif., again registered the largest unemployment rate increase from a year earlier (+2.6 percentage points), followed by two Louisiana areas, Monroe and Shreveport-Bossier City (+1.3 and +1.1 points, respectively).
Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, Birmingham-Hoover, Ala., recorded the lowest unemployment rate in April, 2.4 percent. The large areas with the next lowest rates were Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., at 2.8 percent, Richmond, Va., at 2.9 percent, and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C., at 3.0 percent. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., again posted the highest jobless rate among the large areas, 6.7 percent. The only other large areas that recorded rates above 5.0 percent were Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis., at 5.4 and 5.3 percent, respectively. Twenty-nine large areas recorded lower unemployment rates than in April 2006, 13 registered higher rates, and 7 had no changes. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, posted the largest jobless rate decrease (-1.2 percentage points). The areas with the next largest rate decreases were Austin-Round Rock, Texas, and Denver-Aurora, Colo. (-1.0 percentage point each). Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., had the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increases (+0.6 and +0.5 percentage point, respectively).
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. Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md., again reported the lowest division unemployment rate, 2.5 percent in April, followed by Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., at 2.9 percent each. Fourteen additional divisions registered rates below 4.0 percent. The divisions with the highest unemployment rates were Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., at 7.5 percent, and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., at 7.0 percent. No other division had a rate above 6.2 percent.
Twenty-four of the 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year unemployment rate decreases in April, 8 had rate increases, and 2 had rates that were unchanged from those of April 2006. Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas, continued to register the largest over-the-year jobless rate decline (-0.9 percent-age point), closely followed by Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, and Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y. (-0.8 point each). Eight other divisions had rate declines greater than 0.5 percentage point. No division posted an over-the-year unemployment rate increase greater than 0.3 percentage point.
In 5 of the 11 metropolitan areas that contain divisions, the ranges between the highest and lowest division jobless rates were 1.0 percentage point or more in April. The metropolitan area that had the largest rate difference among its divisions, 3.5 percentage points, was Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. -N.H. (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 7.0 percent, compared with Framingham, Mass., 3.5 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, 312 metropolitan areas recorded over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 49 reported decreases, and 6 had no change. The largest over-the-year employment increases were reported in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+92,400), followed by Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+84,900), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+78,400), and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (+70,100). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were recorded in Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. (+10.9 percent), Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+6.6 per-cent), and Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C., and New Orleans-
Metairie-Kenner, La. (+6.1 percent each).
The largest over-the-year decreases in employment occurred in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-32,600), Youngstown-Warren-|Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (-4,800), and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-4,100). The largest over-the-year percentage decreases were in Monroe, Mich. (-5.2 percent), Anderson, Ind. (-3.9 percent), Atlantic City, N.J. (-2.3 percent), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-2.2 percent), and Janesville, Wis., and Lima, Ohio (-2.1 per-cent each).
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 35 of the 37 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2006. The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these large metropolitan areas were recorded in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+4.2 percent), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (+3.5 percent each), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+3.3 percent), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+3.0 percent). Among large metropolitan areas, only two reported decreases in employment: Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-1.6 percent) and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-0.4 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in April 2007 for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within a metropolitan area. Thirty of the 32 metropolitan divisions reported over-the-year employment gains, while 2 reported losses. The largest over-the-year employment gains in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+70,500), New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (+50,700), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (+48,200), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (+46,900), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+45,200). Over-the-year employment declines occurred in Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-19,100) and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-13,500). The largest over-the-year percentage employment gains in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+3.5 percent), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+3.2 percent), Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, and San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+2.6 percent each), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla. (+2.1 percent), and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (+2.0 percent). Over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were reported in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-1.7 percent) and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-1.6 percent).
