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Metropolitan area over-the-year unemployment rate increases, August 2009

October 01, 2009

For the eighth consecutive month, all of the nation's 372 metropolitan areas had over-the-year unemployment rate increases. The largest jobless rate increase from August 2008 to August 2009 was reported in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan (+7.9 percentage points), followed by Muskegon-Norton Shores, Michigan (+7.0 points).

August 2009 unemployment rate, and August 2008–August 2009 over-the-year unemployment rate change, selected metropolitan areas
[Chart data]

In August 2009, Detroit-Warren-Livonia and Muskegon-Norton Shores had unemployment rates of 17.0 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively.

Only three areas had over-the-year rate increases of less than a full percentage point: Bismarck, North Dakota (+0.4 point); Great Falls, Montana (+0.8 point); and Fairbanks, Alaska (+0.9 point). The August 2009 unemployment rate in Bismarck was 3.3 percent; in Great Falls, 4.9 percent; and in Fairbanks, 6.4 percent.

Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1 million or more, Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Michigan, had the largest jobless rate increase from a year earlier. The areas with the next largest rate increases were Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada (+6.4 points); Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Oregon-Washington (+5.7 points); and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (+5.6 points). All of these areas had unemployment rates of 12.0 percent or higher in August 2009.

These data are from the BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. The most recent data are preliminary. For more information, see the "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — August 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1179.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Metropolitan area over-the-year unemployment rate increases, August 2009 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/ted_20091001.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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