Employment declines in U.S. counties, June 2008–09

Employment declined in 324 U.S. counties from June 2008 to June 2009, with the largest declines occurring in the counties of Los Angeles, California (‑256,700), Maricopa, Arizona (‑149,900), Cook, Illinois (‑137,700), Orange, California (‑119,700), and New York, New York (‑113,200).

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The largest percentage decline in employment was in Elkhart, Indiana (‑21.9 percent). Macomb, Michigan, had the next largest percentage decline (‑13.2 percent), followed by the counties of Trumbull, Ohio (‑12.2 percent), Wayne, Michigan (-11.6 percent), and Collier, Florida (‑11.3 percent).

In June 2009, national employment was 129.7 million, down by 5.1 percent from June 2008. The 334 U.S. counties with 75,000 or more employees accounted for 71.2 percent of total U.S. employment and 76.6 percent of total wages. These 334 counties had a net job decline of 5,117,900 over the year, accounting for 73.7 percent of the overall U.S. employment decrease.

These data are from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program; data for June 2009 are preliminary and subject to revision. 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 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release 10-0009.