In October, 261 metropolitan areas recorded lower unemployment rates than a year earlier, 59 areas had higher rates, and 11 areas had rates that were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Twenty-five metropolitan areas registered jobless rates below 3.0 percent, with 12 of these located in the South, 7 in the Midwest, and 5 in the Northeast. Six of the seven areas with unemployment rates of at least 10.0 percent were located in California. The national unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, not seasonally adjusted, in October.
Metropolitan Area unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Ninety-eight metropolitan areas reported jobless rates below 4.0 percent in October, up from 67 areas a year earlier, while 26 areas registered unemployment rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 45 areas in October 2003. Bryan-College Station, Texas, and Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn., recorded the lowest jobless rates, 1.7 and 1.8 percent, respectively. This was the ninth consecutive month that Bryan-College Station had the lowest unemployment rate. Of the 25 areas with rates below 3.0 percent, about half were home to large state universities. Yuma, Ariz., again posted the highest unemployment rate, 23.6 percent. The next highest rates were recorded in areas located in the agricultural Central Valley of California--Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, 13.6 percent; Yuba City, 11.7 percent; Fresno, 11.6 percent; Merced, 11.1 percent; Bakersfield, 10.7 percent; and Modesto, 10.1 percent.In October, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, and San Jose, Calif., experienced the largest over-the-year unemployment rate decreases (-2.5 percentage points each), followed by two additional areas along the Mexican border in Texas--Brownsville-Harlingen-San Benito and El Paso (-2.2 points each). Eighty-three other areas had rate decreases of at least 1.0 percentage point. Pensacola, Fla., registered the largest over-the-year jobless rate increase (+2.0 percentage points). The next largest rate increases were reported in Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (+1.9 percentage points), and Bloomington, Ind., and Punta Gorda, Fla. (+1.8 points each). Both Pensacola and Punta Gorda sustained major damage from recent hurricanes. Ten additional areas had over-the-year rate increases of 1.0 percentage point or more.
Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 1990 census population of 1 million or more, 45 areas reported lower jobless rates than in October 2003, 5 posted higher rates, and 1 had no change. Orange County, Calif., and Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., continued to record the lowest unemployment rates among the large areas, 3.1 percent each. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, N.J., and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., had the next lowest rates, 3.5 percent each. The large areas with the highest unemployment rates were Portland-Vancouver, Ore.-Wash. (6.4 percent), Detroit, Mich. (6.3 percent), and Memphis, Tenn.-Ark.-Miss. (6.2 percent). San Jose, Calif., again registered the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease (-2.5 percentage points), followed by New York, N.Y., and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (-1.9 points each). Fourteen additional areas reported jobless rate declines of at least 1.0 percentage point. Columbus, Ohio (+0.6 percentage point), was the only large area to experience an over-the-year rate increase greater than 0.3 percentage point.
