Fastest growth and decline in employment by county, June 2005-2006

In June 2006, Collin County, Texas, a Dallas suburb, had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment among the Nation’s largest counties.

[Chart data—TXT]

Lafayette, in south-central Louisiana, had the next largest increase, 7.0 percent, followed by Utah County, Utah, which includes Provo (6.7 percent) and Lee County, Florida, which includes Fort Myers, and Montgomery County, Texas, which is in the Houston metropolitan area (6.5 percent each).

The largest percentage decline in employment was in Orleans Parish, Louisiana (-37.2 percent), followed by the county of Harrison, Mississippi (-14.7 percent) and the parish of Jefferson, Louisiana (-10.2 percent). Employment losses in these three Gulf Coast areas reflected the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Boone, Kentucky, in the Cincinnati metropolitan area, had the next largest employment decline (-3.2 percent), followed by Oakland, Michigan, part of the Detroit metropolitan area (-2.8 percent).

Of the 325 largest counties in the United States, as measured by 2005 annual average employment, 142 had over-the-year percentage growth in employment above the national average of 2.0 percent in June 2006, and 167 experienced changes below the national average.

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data, which are preliminary and subject to revision. Employment data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. The largest counties are those with employment levels of 75,000 or more. Find out more in "County Employment and Wages: Second Quarter 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release 07-0021.