In December, 168 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at least 7.0 percent, up from 33 areas a year earlier, while 22 areas posted rates below 4.0 percent, down from 112 areas in December 2007. El Centro, Calif., continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 22.6 percent. The areas with the next highest rates were Merced, Calif., 15.5 percent; Yuma, Ariz., 15.4 percent; and Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., 15.3 percent. Morgantown, W.Va., and Logan, Utah-Idaho, registered the lowest jobless rates, 2.7 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Over- all, 153 areas posted unemployment rates above the U.S. figure of 7.1 percent, 209 areas reported rates below it, and 7 areas had the same rate.
Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., recorded the largest jobless rate increase from December 2007 (+10.6 percentage points), followed by Dalton, Ga. (+6.2 points). Both areas have experienced manufacturing-related layoffs in recent months. An additional 27 areas registered over-the-year unemployment rate increases of 4.0 percentage points or more, and another 66 areas had rate increases of 3.0 to 3.9 points. No area had a jobless rate decrease of more than 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier.
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., again reported the highest unemployment rates in December, 10.6 and 10.1 percent, respectively. Twenty additional large areas posted rates of 7.0 percent or more. The large areas with the lowest jobless rates in December were Oklahoma City, Okla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 4.6 and 4.7 percent, respectively. All 49 large areas registered higher unemployment rates than in December 2007. Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I.-Mass., had the largest jobless rate increase from a year earlier (+4.3 percentage points), followed closely by Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. (+4.1 points). Nine additional large areas recorded over-the-year unemployment rate increases of 3.0 percentage points or more, and 22 other areas had rate increases of at least 2.0 points.
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 December, Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., again registered the highest division jobless rate, 11.7 percent. The areas with the next highest rates were Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich., at 9.8 percent; Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., at 9.6 per- cent; and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., at 9.5 percent. Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, Md., continued to report the lowest unemployment rate among the divisions, 4.0 percent. Nashua, N.H.- Mass., posted the next lowest rate, 4.3 percent.
In December, all 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year jobless rate increases of at least 1.0 percentage point. Los Angeles- Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., experienced the largest rate increase(+4.3 percentage points). Gary, Ind., registered the next largest unemployment rate increase (+3.7 percentage points). Twenty-six addi-tional divisions reported over-the-year rate increases of 2.0 percentage points or more.
In 8 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 December. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H., posted the largest rate difference among its divisions, 5.3 percentage points (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 9.6 percent, compared with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 4.3 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the 310 metropolitan areas for which nonfarm payroll data were available in December, 72 metropolitan areas recorded over-the-year employment gains, 234 reported losses, and 4 were unchanged. The largest over-the-year employment increase was recorded in Houston- Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+57,300), followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+43,300), San Antonio, Texas (+14,900), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (+11,800), and Austin-Round Rock, Texas (+9,600). The largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment was recorded in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (+3.8 percent), followed by Grand Junction, Colo. (+3.4 percent), Laredo, Texas (+3.1 percent), College Station-Bryan, Texas (+2.6 percent), and Bismarck, N.D. (+2.5 percent).
The largest over-the-year decreases in employment occurred in New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (-120,300), Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-89,700), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-86,800), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (-82,900), and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (-82,000). The largest over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were experienced in Yuma, Ariz. (-7.9 percent), Flint, Mich. (-7.5 percent), Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Ariz. (-7.2 percent), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-6.1 percent), and Prescott, Ariz. (-5.6 percent).
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 7 of the 38 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2007. The largest over-the-year percentage gain in employment was recorded in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+2.2 percent), followed by San Antonio, Texas (+1.8 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+1.4 percent), Austin-Round Rock, Texas (+1.2 percent), and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. (+1.0 percent). Among the large areas, the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment was experienced in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-4.6 percent), followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-4.5 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (-3.3 percent), and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (-3.0 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in December 2008 for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within a metropolitan area. Seven of the 32 metropolitan divisions reported over-the-year employment increases while 25 reported losses. The largest over-the-year employment increase in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+27,800), followed by Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+15,500), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (+11,000), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+6,200). Of the 25 metropolitan divisions that reported losses, the largest over-the-year employment decreases were experienced in New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (-76,400), Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill. (-57,500), Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-49,300), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (-41,500), Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-41,400), and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-40,400).
The largest over-the-year percentage gains in employment among the metropolitan divisions were recorded in Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+1.8 percent), Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+1.3 percent), Nashua, N.H.-Mass. (+0.7 percent), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. (+0.5 percent), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+0.4 percent). Of the metropolitan divisions that experienced over-the-year decreases in employment, the largest decreases were in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-5.1 percent), Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-4.2 percent), Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (-3.4 percent), and Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, Calif. (-3.0 percent).
