February 04, 2010 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment declines in metropolitan divisions, December 2008–December 2009

In December 2009, 31 of the 32 metropolitan divisions—which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within metropolitan areas—reported over-the-year employment losses. The largest over-the-year employment decrease in the metropolitan divisions occurred in Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Illinois (‑163,200).

Change in nonfarm payroll employment, selected metropolitan divisions, December 2008–December 2009
[Chart data]

The next largest over-the-year employment losses among metropolitan divisions were Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California (‑115,300), and New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. (‑103,500).

Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Maryland (part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area), was the only metropolitan division with an employment increase over the year (+3,100).

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) program and are not seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — December 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0139.

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