Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary
Technical information:
Employment: (202)691-6559 USDL 04-994
http://www.bls.gov/sae/
Unemployment: 691-6392
http://www.bls.gov/lau/ For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact: 691-5902 Wednesday, June 2, 2004
METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: APRIL 2004
In April, 274 of the 331 metropolitan areas recorded lower unemployment rates than a year earlier, 43 areas had higher rates, and 14 areas had rates that were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Twenty-two areas registered unemployment rates be- low 3.0 percent, with 11 of these located in the South and 8 in the Midwest. Nine metropolitan areas posted jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, seven of which were in California and two were along the Mexican border in other states. The national unemployment rate in April was 5.4 percent, not season- ally adjusted.
Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Eighty-eight metropolitan areas reported jobless rates below 4.0 per- cent in April, up from 57 areas a year earlier. Thirty-eight areas re- corded rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 60 areas in April 2003. The lowest unemployment rates again were posted in areas with major state universities: Bryan-College Station, Texas, 1.7 percent, Columbia, Mo., 1.9 percent, and Charlottesville, Va., 2.1 percent. Yuma, Ariz., had the highest unemployment rate, 24.7 percent; highly dependent on agriculture, Yuma typically experiences nearly doubled unemployment rates outside of the winter months. Next were six California areas--Merced, 15.5 percent, Yuba City, 14.9 percent, Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, 14.3 percent, Fresno, 13.5 percent, Bakersfield, 12.3 percent, and Modesto, 12.0 percent. (See table 1.)
In April, Youngstown-Warren, Ohio, experienced the largest over-the- year unemployment rate decrease (-3.1 percentage points), followed by Shreveport-Bossier City, La. (-2.7 points), and Eugene-Springfield, Ore., and Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Mich. (-2.5 points each). Ninety-one additional areas, spread across all regions, had decreases of at least 1.0 percentage point from April 2003. Yuma, Ariz., Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio- W.Va., and Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., registered the only over-the-year jobless rate increases greater than 1.0 percentage point (+3.2, +3.0, and +1.3 percentage points, respectively). Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va., both experienced declines in manufacturing employment from last April. Twelve additional areas, five of which were in New York, had over-the-year rate increases of one-half percentage point or more.
Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 1990 census population of 1 mil- lion or more, 44 areas reported lower jobless rates than in April 2003, 3 recorded higher rates, and 4 had rates that were unchanged. Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., and Orange County, Calif., continued to register the lowest unemployment rates, 2.8 and 3.3 percent, respectively. Four ad- ditional large areas--Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Va., 3.5 per- cent, Atlanta, Ga., 3.6 percent, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., 3.7 percent, and San Diego, Calif., 3.9 percent--also had rates of less than 4.0 percent. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., posted the highest unem- ployment rate among the 51 large areas, 7.2 percent, followed by New York, N.Y., and Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash., 6.7 percent each. Among the fourteen large areas with unemployment rate decreases of a full percent- age point or more from a year ago, the largest declines were reported in
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San Jose, Calif. (-2.3 percentage points), and Portland-Vancouver, Ore.- Wash. (-2.1 points). The remaining 12 areas had rate decreases between 1.0 and 1.2 percentage points. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., reported the largest over-the-year rate increase (+1.3 percentage points). No other large area had an increase greater than 0.4 percentage point.
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the 274 metropolitan areas for which April nonfarm payroll data were available, 183 reported increases in employment, 84 recorded decreases, and 7 had no change. The largest over-the-year employment increases were posted in Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. (+77,300), Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz. (+45,300), Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz.(+39,300), Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. (+22,500), Orlando, Fla. (+19,900), and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (+19,700). The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment were reported in Iowa City, Iowa (+5.2 percent), Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz. (+4.8 percent), Laredo, Texas, and Reno, Nev. (+4.1 percent each), Bloomington, Ind. (+3.8 percent), and Boise City, Idaho (+3.5 percent). (See table 2.)
The largest over-the-year employment decreases were reported in Detroit, Mich. (-27,900), Boston, Mass.-N.H. (-23,200), San Jose, Calif. (-17,300), and San Francisco, Calif. (-10,800). The largest over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were reported in Saginaw-Bay City-Midland, Mich., Salinas, Calif., and Toledo, Ohio (-3.0 percent each), Lawton, Okla. (-2.3 percent), Elmira, N.Y. (-2.2 percent), and San Jose, Calif., and Steubenville- Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (-2.0 percent each).
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 28 of the 39 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2003. The lar- gest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these metropolitan areas were posted in Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz. (+4.8 percent), Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz., and Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. (+2.8 percent each), Orlando, Fla. (+2.2 percent), and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. (+2.1 percent). Among the 39 large areas, San Jose, Calif., had the largest over-the-year percent- age decline in employment (-2.0 percent), followed by Detroit, Mich. (-1.4 percent), Boston, Mass.-N.H. (-1.2 percent), and San Francisco, Calif. (-1.1 percent).
Employment growth was most widespread in education and health services, with 220 of 274 metropolitan areas experiencing over-the-year employment gains in this industry sector. Growth also was prevalent in leisure and hospitality; trade, transportation, and utilities; construction; profes- sional and business services; and financial activities. Manufacturing re- mained the weakest industry, with 186 metropolitan areas experiencing em- ployment losses over the year.