July 14 is Bastille Day, which also is called French National Day. It celebrates the start of the French Revolution in 1789. One of the leaders of the French Revolution was the Marquis de Lafayette, who also served in the American Revolution as a general under George Washington and was instrumental in obtaining French support for the Americans. To mark the 225th anniversary of Bastille Day, we take a brief look at unemployment rates in U.S. metropolitan areas named for Lafayette.
The unemployment rate in Lafayette, Louisiana, was 4.2 percent in May 2014. The rate was 4.9 percent in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas-Missouri, and 5.1 percent in Lafayette, Indiana. All of those rates were below the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent in May 2014. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky (6.4 percent), and Fayetteville, North Carolina (7.7 percent), both had unemployment rates above the national rate.
The United States and France have many other ties besides the Marquis de Lafayette. The most substantial tie is trade between the countries. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, France ranked 8th among U.S. trading partners in 2013 in combined imports and exports of goods. From May 2013 to May 2014, prices for U.S. imports from France rose 0.6 percent, little different from the 0.4-percent increase in all U.S. imports.
The unemployment data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. For more information about metropolitan area labor market measures, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — May 2014" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑14‑1242. The import price data are from the International Price Program. For more information about international prices, see "U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — May 2014" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑14‑1077.
United States Department of Labor
