In January, 85 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below 4.0 percent, up from 73 areas a year earlier, and 46 areas posted rates of at least 7.0 percent, up slightly from 44 areas in January 2006. Honolulu, Hawaii, had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.0 percent, followed by Logan, Utah-Idaho, 2.3 percent. Three highly agricultural areas registered the highest jobless rates: El Centro, Calif., 14.9 percent, Merced, Calif., 11.3 percent, and Yuma, Ariz., 11.1 percent. Overall, 190 areas reported unemployment rates below the U.S. figure of 5.0 percent, 168 areas had higher rates, and 11 areas had the same rate.
Three areas severely affected by Hurricane Katrina recorded the largest over-the-year jobless rate decreases in January: Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss.(-10.2 percentage points), Pascagoula, Miss. (-5.1 points), and New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La. (-2.7 points). The hurricane struck in August 2005 and sharply raised unemployment rates in these areas in subsequent months. Six additional areas had over-the-year rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more in January 2007. El Centro, Calif., registered the largest unemployment rate increase from a year earlier (+2.0 percentage points). The areas with the next largest rate increases from January 2006 were Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (+1.7 percentage points) and Janesville, Wis. (+1.4 points). Six other areas posted rate increases 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 January 2007 were Birmingham-Hoover, Ala., and Richmond, Va., 3.2 percent each, followed closely by 2 Florida areas: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach and Orlando-Kissimmee at 3.3 percent each. The large area with the highest rate was Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., 8.0 percent. The areas with the next highest rates were Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind., 6.4 percent, Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I.-Mass., 6.1 percent, and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, 6.0 percent. Twenty-six large areas experienced lower unemployment rates than in January 2006, 18 registered higher rates, and 5 had no change. Among these areas, New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La., re-ported the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease (-2.7 percentage points). Two Texas areas posted the next largest rate decreases: Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (-1.1 percentage points) and Austin-Round Rock (-0.7 point). Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., and Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.,recorded the largest rate increases from January 2006 (+0.5 percentage point each).
Metropolitan Division Unemployment
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 January, 3.2 percent. Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md., had the next lowest rate, 3.3 per-cent, followed by Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., and Washington-Arling-ton-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., at 3.4 percent each. Two additional divisions registered rates below 4.0 percent. The divisions with the highest unemployment rates were Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., 9.1 per-cent, and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.7 percent.
Twenty of the 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year unemployment rate increases in January, 13 posted rate decreases, and 1 had a rate that was unchanged from a year earlier. Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Mass., and Gary, Ind., registered the largest rate increases (+0.7 percentage point each). The divisions with the next largest jobless rate increases were Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., and Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, Mass.-N.H. (+0.6 percentage point each). Four other divisions had unemployment rate increases of at least 0.5 percentage point from January 2006. Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas, registered the largest jobless rate decline from a year earlier (-0.6 percentage point). No other division posted an over-the-year unemployment rate decrease greater than 0.4 percentage point.
In 6 of the 11 metropolitan areas that contain divisions, the ranges between the highest and lowest division unemployment rates were 1.0 percentage point or more in January. The metropolitan areas that had the widest rate ranges between their divisions were Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.7 percent, compared with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 4.3 percent) and Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, 9.1 percent, compared with Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 7.2 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment
In January, 322 metropolitan areas reported over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 40 reported decreases, and 5 had no change. The largest over-the-year employment increases were posted in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+99,100), followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+98,900), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+95,200), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (+92,300), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (+80,100). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were reported in Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. (+16.0 percent), New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La. (+11.1 percent), Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+8.4 percent), Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C. (+7.5 percent), and St. George, Utah (+7.0 percent).
The largest over-the-year employment declines occurred in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-47,400), Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (-3,800), Dayton, Ohio (-2,800), Flint, Mich. (-2,700), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-2,000), Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-1,900), and Canton-Massillon, Ohio (-1,800). The largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment were reported in Anderson, Ind. (-3.2 percent), Mansfield, Ohio (-2.6 percent), Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-2.4 percent), and Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio (-2.2 percent).
Over the year, nonfarm employment rose 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 posted in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+5.4 percent), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+4.2 percent), Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (+3.8 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+3.4 percent), San Antonio, Texas (+3.2 percent), and Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C., and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+3.0 percent each). Among the largest areas, only two reported decreases in employment: Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-2.4 percent) and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-0.2 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in January 2007 for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable
employment centers within a metropolitan area. Twenty-nine of the 32 metropolitan divisions reported over-the-year employment gains, 2 re-
ported losses, and 1 was unchanged. The largest over-the-year employment increases in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+78,900), New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (+60,900), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (+53,200), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+44,500). (See table 4.)
The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment among the metropolitan divisions were reported in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+4.0 percent), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+3.2 percent), San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+2.9 percent), and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, Mass.-N.H. (+2.1 percent). Over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were reported in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-2.5 percent)and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-2.3 percent).
