In April, 93 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, up from 7 areas a year earlier, while 117 areas posted rates below 7.0 percent, down from 347 areas in April 2008. El Centro, Calif., recorded the highest unemployment rate, 26.9 percent. The areas with the next highest rates were Yuma, Ariz., 20.3 percent; Merced, Calif., 18.3 percent; and Yuba City, Calif., 18.2 percent. Among the 13 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, 9 were located in California. Iowa City, Iowa, registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.2 percent in April, followed by Ames, Iowa, and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La., 3.6 percent each. Overall, 149 areas posted unemployment rates above the U.S. figure of 8.6 percent, 218 areas reported rates below it, and 5 areas had the same rate.
For the fourth consecutive month, all 372 metropolitan areas had higher unemployment rates on an over-the-year basis. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., recorded the largest jobless rate increase from April 2008 (+12.7 percentage points). The areas with the next largest over-the- year rate increases were Bend, Ore. (+9.0 percentage points) and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, N.C. (+8.8 points). An additional 33 areas registered unemployment rate increases of 6.0 percentage points or more, and another 44 areas had rate increases of 5.0 to 5.9 points. The smallest increase reported was 0.7 percentage point in Iowa City, Iowa.
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 April, 13.6 and 12.6 percent, respectively. Eight additional large
areas posted rates of 10.0 percent or more. The large areas with the lowest jobless rates in April were New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La., 5.3 percent; and Oklahoma City, Okla., and San Antonio, Texas, 5.4 percent each. All 49 large areas registered over-the-year unemployment rate increases of at least 1.7 percentage points. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash., had the largest jobless rate increase from a year earlier (+6.9 percentage points), followed by Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (+6.6 points), and Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. (+6.4 points). Five additional large areas recorded rate increases of 5.0 percentage points or more.
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 April, the two divisions that comprise the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., metropolitan area registered the highest jobless rates: Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 14.6 percent, and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 12.8 percent. The divisions with the next highest rates were Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 11.9 percent, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., 10.7 percent. Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md., reported the lowest unemployment rate among the divisions, 4.9 percent. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., posted the next lowest rate, 5.8 percent.
In April, all 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year jobless rate increases of at least 2.3 percentage points. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich., experienced the largest rate increases (+6.6 and +6.5 percentage points, respectively). Four additional divisions reported over-the-year rate increases of 5.0 percentage points or more.
In 3 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 April. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass. N.H., posted the largest rate difference among its divisions, 5.7 percentage points (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 11.9 percent, compared with Framingham, Mass., 6.2 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, of the 310 metropolitan areas for which data were available, 291 areas reported over-the-year declines in employment, while 17 reported increases. Two metropolitan areas had no change. The largest over-the-year decreases in employment were reported in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (-240,500), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (-234,400), Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. (-190,400), Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.(-143,400), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-129,700), and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (-123,600). Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., -13.5 percent, experienced the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment, followed by Dalton, Ga. (-9.7 percent), Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. (-8.8 percent), Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Ariz. (-8.7 percent), Prescott, Ariz. (-8.6 percent), and Reno-Sparks, Nev. (-8.5 percent).
The largest over-the-year increase was recorded in Austin-Round Rock, Texas (+3,400), followed by Odessa, Texas (+1,800), Midland, Texas (+1,500), and Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+1,400 each). Odessa, Texas (+2.9 percent) experienced the largest over-the-year percentage increase, followed by Midland, Texas (+2.2 percent) and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+1.4 percent).
Over the year, nonfarm employment fell in 37 of the 38 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2008. The largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment in these large areas were posted in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-7.5 percent), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-6.8 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (-6.3 percent), Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. (-6.0 percent), and Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (-5.9 percent). For the third consecutive month, Austin-Round Rock, Texas, was the only one of these metropolitan areas to record an over-the-year employment increase (+0.4 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, nonfarm payroll employment data were available for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable
employment centers within a metropolitan area. All 32 divisionrecorded over-the-year employment decreases. The biggest losses were seen in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill. (-171,300), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (-167,900), New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.- N.J. (-127,700), and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-95,900).
The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among metropolitan divisions was reported in Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-8.4 percent), followed by Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-6.2 percent), Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-4.8 percent), and Edison-New Brunswick, N.J. (-4.7 percent).
