jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent. The national unemployment rate in February was 4.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 5.1 percent a year earlier.
Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In February, 101 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below 4.0 percent, up from 77 areas a year earlier, while 36 areas had jobless rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 52 areas in February 2006. Honolulu, Hawaii, continued to report the lowest unemployment rate, 2.0 percent, followed by Logan, Utah-Idaho, 2.1 percent. Six heavily agricultural areas in California registered the highest rates in February--El Centro, 14.1 percent; Merced, 11.6 percent; Yuba City, 10.7 percent; Visalia-Porterville, 10.6 percent; and Hanford-Corcoran and Salinas, 10.5 percent each. The summer resort area of Ocean City, N.J., recorded the only other double-digit jobless rate, 10.1 percent. Overall, 191 areas posted unemployment rates below the U.S. figure of 4.9 percent, 168 areas had higher rates, and 10 areas had the same rate.
Two Mississippi areas severely affected by Hurricane Katrina reported the largest over-the-year jobless rate decreases in February-Gulfport-Biloxi (-7.8 percentage points) and Pascagoula (-3.5 points). The hurricane struck in August 2005 and sharply raised unemployment rates in these areas in subsequent months. Seventeen additional areas recorded over-the-year rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more in February. El Centro, Calif., registered the largest unemployment rate increase from a year earlier (+1.5 percentage points). No other area posted an over-the-year jobless rate increase of 1.0 percentage point or more.
Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, those recording the lowest jobless rates in February 2007 were Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla., and Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla., 3.1 percent each, and Jacksonville, Fla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 3.2 percent each. The large area with the highest rate again was Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., 6.7 percent. The areas with the next highest rates were Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind., 5.9 percent each. Thirty-three large areas ported lower unemployment rates than in February 2006, 12 registered higher rates, and 4 had no change. Among these areas, New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La., posted the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease (-1.9 percentage points). The next largest decreases were recorded in Houston-Sugar Land-Bay-town, Texas, and Pittsburgh, Pa. (-1.0 percentage point each). No large area had an unemployment rate increase of 0.5 percentage point or more from February 2006.
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. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla., reported the lowest division unemployment rate in February, 2.9 percent. Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md., and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., recorded the next lowest rates, 3.1 percent each, followed by Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., at 3.2 percent, and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla., at 3.3 percent. Two additional divisions registered rates below 4.0 percent. The divisions with the highest unemployment rates were Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.4 percent, and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., 7.4 percent.
Twenty-one of the 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year unemployment rate decreases in February, 11 had rate increases, and 2 had rates that were unchanged. The divisions posting the largest jobless rate decreases from a year earlier were Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., and Philadelphia, Pa. (-0.8 percentage point each), followed by Camden, N.J., and Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa. (-0.7 point each). Five additional areas registered unemployment rate decreases of 0.5 percentage point or more from February 2006. Three divisions in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H., metropolitan area posted the largest jobless rate increases from a year earlier-Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Mass. (+0.7 percentage point), and Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, Mass.-N.H., and Taunton-Norton-Raynham, Mass. (+0.5 point each). No other division recorded an over-the-year rate in-
crease greater than 0.3 percentage point.
In 4 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 February. The metropolitan area that had the largest rate difference among its divisions, 4.1 percentage points, was Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.4 percent, compared with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 4.3 percent). The next largest differences, 1.2 percentage points each, were recorded in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 7.4 percent, compared with Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 6.2 percent), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, 4.7 percent, compared with Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, 3.5 percent). The divisions in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., had a difference of 1.0 percentage point (Gary, Ind., 5.9 percent, compared with Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill., 4.9 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In February, 319 metropolitan areas recorded over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 43 reported decreases, and 5 had no change. The largest over-the-year employment increases were reported in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+94,000), followed by Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+90,200), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+89,200), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (+86,700), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (+60,100), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+49,500). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were recorded in Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. (+14.5 percent), New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La. (+8.7 percent), Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+8.1 percent), Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C. (+7.6 percent), St. George, Utah (+7.2 percent), and Jacksonville,
N.C. (+6.7 percent).
The largest over-the-year decreases in employment occurred in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-32,500), Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-5,400), Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (-4,300), Flint, Mich. (-3,500), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-3,000), and Atlantic City, N.J. (-1,900). The largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment were reported in Anderson, Ind. (-3.9 percent), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., and Flint, Mich. (-2.3 percent each), Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio (-2.1 percent), Lima, Ohio (-1.9 percent), and Monroe, Mich., and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (-1.8 percent 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. (+4.8 percent), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+3.8 percent), Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (+3.6 percent), Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C., and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+3.4 percent each). Among the largest areas, only two reported decreases in employment: Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-1.6 percent) and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-0.5 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in February 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 (+79,400), New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (+64,200), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (+44,600), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+44,200).
The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment among the metropolitan divisions were recorded in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+4.0 percent), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+3.2 percent), San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+2.7 percent), and Tacoma, Wash. (+2.0 percent). Over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were reported in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-2.3 percent) and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-1.2 percent).
