In November, 259 metropolitan areas recorded lower unemployment rates than a year earlier, 63 areas had higher rates, and 9 areas had rates that were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Twenty-four metropolitan areas registered jobless rates below 3.0 percent, with 12 of these located in the South and 7 in the Midwest. Eight areas had unemployment rates of at least 10.0 percent. Six of these areas were located in California, and the other two were along the Mexican border in other states. The national unemployment rate in November was 5.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.
Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In November, 103 metropolitan areas had unemployment rates below 4.0 percent, up from 71 areas a year earlier, while 32 areas registered rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 52 areas in November 2003. Bryan-College Station, Texas, recorded the lowest jobless rate, 1.7 percent, followed by Charlottesville, Va., Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn., and Gainesville, Fla., 2.0 percent each. This was the 10th consecutive month that Bryan-College Station had the lowest unemployment rate. All eight areas with the lowest jobless rates were home to large state universities. Yuma, Ariz., again posted the highest unemployment rate, 20.0 percent. The next highest rates were recorded in areas located in the agricultural Central Valley of California--Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, 15.5 percent; Merced and Yuba City, 13.0 percent each; Fresno, 12.3 percent; and Bakersfield, 11.9 percent.Decatur, Ala., recorded the largest over-the-year unemployment rate decrease (-3.5 percentage points) in November. This area had experienced temporary manufacturing layoffs a year ago. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, reported the next largest jobless rate decrease (-2.8 percentage points), followed by New York, N.Y., Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito, Texas, and San Jose, Calif. (-2.3 points each), and Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, Wash. (-2.0 points). Sixty-eight other areas had rate decreases of at least 1.0 percentage point. Sumter, S.C., registered the largest jobless rate increase over the year (+2.2 percentage points). The next largest rate increases were reported in Lansing-East Lansing, Mich. (+1.7 percentage points), and Punta Gorda, Fla., and St. Joseph, Mo. (+1.6 points each). Punta Gorda sustained major damage from Hurricane Charley in August. Ten additional areas had over-the-year rate increases of 1.0 percentage point or more; half of these were in Pennsylvania.
Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 1990 Census population of 1 million or more, 44 areas reported lower jobless rates than in November 2003 and 7 posted higher rates. Orange County, Calif., and Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., continued to record the lowest unemployment rates among the large areas, 2.9 and 3.1 percent, respectively. November marked the first month since December 2001 that Orange County had a lower rate than the Washington metropolitan area. The next lowest jobless rates were registered in Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, N.J., 3.3 percent; San Diego, Calif., 3.4 percent; and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., 3.5 percent. The large areas with the highest unemployment rates were Detroit, Mich., 6.6 percent; Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, Ohio; Memphis, Tenn.-Ark.-Miss.; and Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash., 6.4 percent each. Over the year, the largest rate decreases among the large areas occurred in New York, N.Y., and San Jose, Calif. (-2.3 percentage points each), and Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C., and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (-1.7 points each). Eleven additional areas reported jobless rate declines of at least 1.0 percentage point. Columbus, Ohio, where the rate rose 0.6 percentage point over the year, was the only large area to experience an increase greater than 0.3 percentage point.
