In March, 45 metropolitan areas reported unemployment rates of at least 7.0 percent, up from 26 areas a year earlier, while 69 areas
recorded rates below 4.0 percent, down from 128 areas in March 2007. Two agricultural areas in California again registered the highest rates in March: El Centro, 16.4 percent, and Merced, 13.7 percent. Iowa City, Iowa, and Midland, Texas, posted the lowest jobless rates, 2.6 percent each. Overall, 193 areas recorded unemployment rates below the U.S. figure of 5.2 percent, 163 areas had higher rates, and 13 areas had the same rate.
Two Florida areas, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, registered the largest unemployment rate increases from a year earlier (+3.0 and +2.9 percentage points, respectively). Twenty-one additional areas recorded rate increases of 2.0 percentage points or more, and another 96 areas had increases of 1.0 to 1.9 points. Two Oklahoma areas, Lawton and Oklahoma City, reported the only jobless rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more in March (-1.2 and -1.1 points, respectively).
Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 8.1 percent in March. The areas posting the next highest rates were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., 7.1 percent, and Providence-Fall River-Warwick, R.I.-Mass., 6.9 percent. Oklahoman City, Okla., reported the lowest jobless rate among the large areas, 3.3 percent. Seven additional large areas had rates below 4.0 percent. Forty-four large areas recorded higher unemployment rates than in March 2007, three posted lower rates, and two had no change. Among the large areas, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., had the largest over-the-year jobless rate increase (+1.9 percentage points), followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (+1.5 points). Nineteen additional large areas reported rate increases of 1.0 percentage point or more. Oklahoma City, Okla., registered the largest unemployment rate decrease from a year earlier (-1.1 percentage points). No other large area had a rate decrease greater than 0.2 percentage point.
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 March, the division with the highest unemployment rate again was Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., 9.1 percent. Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich., and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., recorded the next highest rates, 7.5 and 7.3 percent, respectively. Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, Md., continued to report the lowest jobless rate among the divisions, 2.7 percent. Five additional divisions registered rates below 4.0 percent.
In March, 27 of the 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year unemployment rate increases, 2 had rate decreases, and 5 had rates unchanged from a year earlier. The division with the largest jobless rate increase was West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla. (+1.5 percentage points). Six additional divisions reported rate increases of 1.0 percentage point or more. No division registered a jobless rate decline from March 2007 greater than 0.2 percentage point.
In 7 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 March. 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., 7.3 percent, compared with Framingham, Mass., 3.8 percent).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the 310 metropolitan areas for which nonfarm payroll data were available in March, 221 metropolitan areas recorded over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 82 reported decreases, and 7 had no change. The largest over-the-year employment increase was posted in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+80,100), followed by New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (+65,500), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+58,200), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+35,700). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were reported in Pascagoula, Miss. (+13.9 percent), Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (+5.7 percent), Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash., and Odessa, Texas (+5.2 percent each), and Grand Junction, Colo. (+4.4 percent).
The largest over-the-year decrease in employment occurred in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-45,300), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.(-35,300), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (-21,700), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. (-20,800), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (-17,300), Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. (-13,900), and Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Fla. (-13,200). The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment was recorded in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. (-5.8 percent), followed by Flint, Mich.,and Naples-Marco Island, Fla. (-5.3 percent each), Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Va. (-4.8 percent), Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Fla. (-4.3 percent), and Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, Mich. (-3.5 percent).
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 27 of the 38 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2007. The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these large metropolitan areas were reported in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+3.2 percent), Austin-Round Rock, Texas (+2.9 percent), San Antonio, Texas (+2.3 percent), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+2.1 percent), and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (+2.0 percent). Among the large areas, the largest over-the-year percentage decreases were reported in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-2.3 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario,Calif. (-1.7 percent), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (-1.3 percent), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. (-0.8 percent), and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (-0.6 percent each).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in March 2008 for 32 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within a metropolitan area. Twenty of the 32 metropolitan divisions reported over-the-year increases in employment, 11 reported losses, and 1 had no change. The largest over-the-year increases in nonfarm employment for the metropolitan divisions occurred in New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (+52,200), Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+40,800), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+29,400), Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (+24,200), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.(+23,900), and San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+20,200). The largest over-the-year declines in nonfarm employment were recorded in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-28,000), Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-21,700), Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-17,300), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (-13,600), and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (-9,800).
The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment among the metropolitan divisions were reported in Tacoma, Wash. (+2.3 percent); San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+2.1 percent); and Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas; Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas; and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+2.0 percent each). The largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment among metropolitan divisions were seen in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-3.6 percent),Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich. (-1.5 percent), Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (-1.4 percent), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla. (-1.3 percent), and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (-1.2 percent).
