Metropolitan Area Employment And Unemployment: February 2007

[RTFX-Trading]

METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT: FEBRUARY 2007

Unemployment rates were lower in February than a year earlier in 249 of
the 369 metropolitan areas, higher in 94 areas, and unchanged in 26 areas,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported
today. Eighteen metropolitan areas registered jobless rates below 3.0
percent. Seven areas, six of which are located in California, recorded
jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent. The national unemployment rate in
February was 4.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 5.1 percent a
year earlier.

Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In February, 101 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below
4.0 percent, up from 77 areas a year earlier, while 36 areas had jobless
rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 52 areas in February 2006. Hono-
lulu, Hawaii, continued to report the lowest unemployment rate, 2.0 per-
cent, followed by Logan, Utah-Idaho, 2.1 percent. Six heavily agricultural
areas in California registered the highest rates in February--El Centro, 14.1
percent; Merced, 11.6 percent; Yuba City, 10.7 percent; Visalia-Porterville,
10.6 percent; and Hanford-Corcoran and Salinas, 10.5 percent each. The summer
resort area of Ocean City, N.J., recorded the only other double-digit jobless
rate, 10.1 percent. Overall, 191 areas posted unemployment rates below the
U.S. figure of 4.9 percent, 168 areas had higher rates, and 10 areas had the
same rate. (See table 1.)

Two Mississippi areas severely affected by Hurricane Katrina reported
the largest over-the-year jobless rate decreases in February--Gulfport-
Biloxi (-7.8 percentage points) and Pascagoula (-3.5 points). The hurri-
cane struck in August 2005 and sharply raised unemployment rates in these
areas in subsequent months. Seventeen additional areas recorded over-
the-year rate decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more in February. El
Centro, Calif., registered the largest unemployment rate increase from a
year earlier (+1.5 percentage points). No other area posted an over-the-
year jobless rate increase 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 February 2007 were
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla., and Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla., 3.1
percent each, and Jacksonville, Fla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria,
D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 3.2 percent each. The large area with the highest rate
again was Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., 6.7 percent. The areas with the
next highest rates were Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Louisville-
Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind., 5.9 percent each. Thirty-three large areas
ported lower unemployment rates than in February 2006, 12 registered higher
rates, and 4 had no change. Among these areas, New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner,
La., posted the largest over-the-year jobless rate decrease (-1.9 percentage
points). The next largest decreases were recorded in Houston-Sugar Land-Bay-
town, Texas, and Pittsburgh, Pa. (-1.0 percentage point each). No large area
had an unemployment rate increase of 0.5 percentage point or more from February
2006.

- 2 -

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. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla.,
reported the lowest division unemployment rate in February, 2.9 percent.
Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md., and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla.,
recorded the next lowest rates, 3.1 percent each, followed by Washington-
Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., at 3.2 percent, and West Palm
Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla., at 3.3 percent. Two additional
divisions registered rates below 4.0 percent. The divisions with the
highest unemployment rates were Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.4
percent, and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., 7.4 percent. (See table 2.)

Twenty-one of the 34 metropolitan divisions recorded over-the-year
unemployment rate decreases in February, 11 had rate increases, and 2 had
rates that were unchanged. The divisions posting the largest jobless rate
decreases from a year earlier were Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich., and
Philadelphia, Pa. (-0.8 percentage point each), followed by Camden, N.J.,
and Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa. (-0.7 point each). Five additional areas reg-
istered unemployment rate decreases of 0.5 percentage point or more from
February 2006. Three divisions in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H.,
metropolitan area posted the largest jobless rate increases from a year
earlier--Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Mass. (+0.7 percentage point), and
Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, Mass.-N.H., and Taunton-Norton-Raynham, Mass.
(+0.5 point each). No other division recorded an over-the-year rate in-
crease greater than 0.3 percentage point.

In 4 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 February. The metropolitan area that had the largest rate
difference among its divisions, 4.1 percentage points, was Boston-Cambridge-
Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Mass.-N.H., 8.4 percent, compared
with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 4.3 percent). The next largest differences, 1.2 per-
centage points each, were recorded in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (Detroit-
Livonia-Dearborn, 7.4 percent, compared with Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, 6.2
percent), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (Los Angeles-Long Beach-
Glendale, 4.7 percent, compared with Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, 3.5 percent).
The divisions in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., had a difference of
1.0 percentage point (Gary, Ind., 5.9 percent, compared with Chicago-Naperville-
Joliet, Ill., 4.9 percent).

Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In February, 319 metropolitan areas recorded over-the-year increases
in nonfarm payroll employment, 43 reported decreases, and 5 had no change.
The largest over-the-year employment increases were reported in Dallas-Fort
Worth-Arlington, Texas (+94,000), followed by Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown,
Texas (+90,200), Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+89,200), New York-Northern
New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (+86,700), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa
Ana, Calif. (+60,100), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (+49,500). The larg-
est over-the-year percentage increases in employment were recorded in Gulfport-
Biloxi, Miss. (+14.5 percent), New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La. (+8.7 percent),
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. (+8.1 percent), Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle
Beach, S.C. (+7.6 percent), St. George, Utah (+7.2 percent), and Jacksonville,
N.C. (+6.7 percent). (See table 3.)

The largest over-the-year decreases in employment occurred in Detroit-
Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-32,500), Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-5,400),
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa. (-4,300), Flint, Mich. (-3,500),
Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. (-3,000), and Atlantic City, N.J. (-1,900). The
largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment were reported in
Anderson, Ind. (-3.9 percent), Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., and Flint, Mich. (-2.3
percent each), Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio (-2.1 percent), Lima, Ohio
(-1.9 percent), and Monroe, Mich., and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.
(-1.8 percent each).

Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 35 of the 37 metropoli-
tan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2006. The
largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these large met-
ropolitan areas were recorded in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+4.8 per-
cent), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas (+3.8 percent), Las Vegas-Paradise,
Nev. (+3.6 percent), Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C., and Dallas-Fort
Worth-Arlington, Texas (+3.4 percent each). Among the largest areas, only
two reported decreases in employment: Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. (-1.6
percent) and Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (-0.5 percent).

- 3 -

Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Nonfarm payroll employment data were available in February 2007 for 32
metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable em-
ployment centers within a metropolitan area. Thirty of the 32 metropoli-
tan divisions reported over-the-year employment gains, while 2 reported
losses. The largest over-the-year employment gains in the metropolitan
divisions occurred in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+79,400), New York-White
Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (+64,200), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.
(+44,600), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+44,200). (See table 4.)

The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment among the
metropolitan divisions were recorded in Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (+4.0
percent), Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (+3.2 percent), San Francisco-San
Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (+2.7 percent), and Tacoma, Wash. (+2.0 percent).
Over-the-year percentage decreases in employment were reported in Detroit-
Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-2.3 percent) and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich.
(-1.2 percent).