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Most metropolitan areas had employment losses for the year ended in October 2020

December 07, 2020

Out of the 389 metropolitan areas, 234 areas had over-the-year decreases in nonfarm employment and 155 areas were essentially unchanged. The 12-month employment diffusion index for metropolitan areas was 4.8 during the month.

Metropolitan area diffusion indexes measure employment changes in a set of areas. The measure summarizes how widespread employment increases or decreases are across all the areas in the set. An index greater than 50 means more areas had increasing employment over the period. An index below 50 means more areas had decreasing employment. At the extremes, an index of 0 means employment fell in all areas; an index of 100 means employment rose in all of them.

Employment diffusion indexes for metropolitan areas, January 2000 to October 2020
Month 1-month diffusion index 3-month diffusion index 6-month diffusion index 12-month diffusion index

Jan 2000

60.7 79.8 86.2 92.4

Feb 2000

64.6 75.8 85.4 91.1

Mar 2000

83.1 77.1 91.5 93.2

Apr 2000

62.9 82.3 87.6 92.9

May 2000

66.2 79.1 86.4 92.6

Jun 2000

58.1 63.5 79.7 91.0

Jul 2000

52.4 62.0 78.4 88.9

Aug 2000

60.4 62.4 76.5 87.5

Sep 2000

58.4 64.2 66.9 85.3

Oct 2000

57.3 65.6 67.3 81.7

Nov 2000

57.9 60.8 65.2 80.9

Dec 2000

52.1 56.7 63.4 73.0

Jan 2001

54.5 57.9 62.9 74.2

Feb 2001

49.0 52.1 58.1 71.1

Mar 2001

48.1 52.7 54.4 63.3

Apr 2001

39.6 42.9 53.2 61.2

May 2001

40.2 40.5 45.2 57.0

Jun 2001

50.3 41.5 46.9 55.3

Jul 2001

35.7 37.9 38.9 53.4

Aug 2001

49.7 44.3 39.7 48.5

Sep 2001

32.1 31.6 33.5 43.6

Oct 2001

34.5 29.8 30.3 39.3

Nov 2001

35.4 24.2 27.7 35.3

Dec 2001

36.3 26.9 25.3 33.1

Jan 2002

55.7 43.0 34.4 32.9

Feb 2002

52.1 50.8 34.1 31.4

Mar 2002

59.4 57.6 39.0 34.0

Apr 2002

52.8 57.3 45.5 36.3

May 2002

62.9 59.0 55.3 37.9

Jun 2002

52.2 54.9 59.3 38.9

Jul 2002

54.4 58.1 61.6 44.1

Aug 2002

58.0 57.0 61.6 43.0

Sep 2002

57.9 59.4 60.7 50.6

Oct 2002

47.4 57.6 62.2 55.0

Nov 2002

55.2 58.8 59.7 57.6

Dec 2002

41.8 48.3 59.0 60.6

Jan 2003

53.5 53.6 59.3 59.5

Feb 2003

39.9 50.1 52.6 56.1

Mar 2003

40.2 43.4 47.0 52.6

Apr 2003

47.9 38.0 45.5 55.5

May 2003

54.0 44.3 46.4 55.5

Jun 2003

45.0 48.6 47.9 51.4

Jul 2003

57.2 55.3 43.9 50.5

Aug 2003

62.6 58.8 52.6 53.4

Sep 2003

65.9 68.6 61.6 55.7

Oct 2003

64.6 72.4 68.2 55.3

Nov 2003

61.1 68.6 71.1 56.8

Dec 2003

62.0 68.6 75.3 59.8

Jan 2004

57.7 66.6 74.7 62.1

Feb 2004

66.2 68.0 73.6 67.7

Mar 2004

76.7 75.8 78.1 73.6

Apr 2004

64.7 78.5 78.9 78.6

May 2004

71.0 80.7 80.7 79.9

Jun 2004

68.8 78.1 80.7 83.9

Jul 2004

68.9 81.3 86.3 85.4

Aug 2004

64.4 77.4 87.4 85.3

Sep 2004

53.1 69.1 79.0 83.0

Oct 2004

75.9 76.3 84.1 86.5

Nov 2004

65.7 75.8 83.9 87.0

Dec 2004

68.6 80.8 83.8 86.9

Jan 2005

53.5 64.7 75.5 84.8

Feb 2005

78.2 72.6 79.4 89.0

Mar 2005

57.6 68.3 80.2 85.4

Apr 2005

78.4 84.0 81.4 88.7

May 2005

62.9 78.1 80.0 86.5

Jun 2005

53.1 73.3 72.9 83.1

Jul 2005

81.1 78.5 85.7 86.5

Aug 2005

66.9 80.7 84.0 86.0

Sep 2005

71.3 87.0 87.2 86.6

Oct 2005

48.6 66.9 78.1 83.8

Nov 2005

76.5 72.3 81.8 86.9

Dec 2005

69.3 68.8 85.7 85.4

Jan 2006

73.8 81.3 81.1 87.8

Feb 2006

76.3 84.8 83.6 89.3

Mar 2006

72.4 87.8 83.5 90.9

Apr 2006

61.1 80.0 87.9 88.0

May 2006

57.3 71.1 82.5 86.0

Jun 2006

71.1 67.5 84.1 88.4

Jul 2006

43.9 59.9 75.5 81.8

Aug 2006

73.8 71.3 73.5 83.6

Sep 2006

60.2 62.8 71.0 81.2

Oct 2006

55.0 71.0 68.3 84.9

Nov 2006

65.1 65.5 73.3 82.5

Dec 2006

73.3 72.7 72.4 84.1

Jan 2007

61.1 77.7 79.9 84.8

Feb 2007

56.6 72.2 74.5 79.6

Mar 2007

75.8 72.6 78.1 81.3

Apr 2007

40.2 59.1 75.4 75.5

May 2007

62.6 65.3 76.8 79.9

Jun 2007

70.5 61.2 74.6 78.5

Jul 2007

48.6 67.7 70.0 79.0

Aug 2007

53.1 61.2 67.7 77.7

Sep 2007

53.7 51.3 59.3 75.9

Oct 2007

56.6 53.2 65.1 74.9

Nov 2007

62.6 59.1 64.0 73.6

Dec 2007

62.4 63.0 57.9 70.7

Jan 2008

59.3 65.3 65.7 71.4

Feb 2008

54.9 64.0 65.2 70.9

Mar 2008

31.4 50.6 59.0 63.4

Apr 2008

38.3 36.2 53.5 62.1

May 2008

37.4 29.8 44.2 57.3

Jun 2008

39.6 35.4 41.0 50.1

Jul 2008

39.9 33.9 32.5 47.7

Aug 2008

32.1 29.8 27.6 41.9

Sep 2008

29.8 23.6 24.0 37.0

Oct 2008

21.6 17.8 21.1 30.5

Nov 2008

10.2 11.9 15.2 22.7

Dec 2008

13.3 10.1 11.1 19.7

Jan 2009

10.8 4.3 5.0 10.6

Feb 2009

10.8 3.9 3.4 6.4

Mar 2009

6.6 4.1 1.9 4.4

Apr 2009

16.9 3.6 0.9 2.1

May 2009

29.5 4.9 2.2 2.4

Jun 2009

20.4 11.7 3.1 3.0

Jul 2009

26.3 14.6 4.5 2.4

Aug 2009

32.0 14.0 4.9 2.6

Sep 2009

38.1 20.0 9.3 1.9

Oct 2009

41.4 28.0 13.5 1.9

Nov 2009

50.4 38.5 14.7 2.6

Dec 2009

34.8 38.1 22.7 3.4

Jan 2010

47.7 38.8 27.8 5.7

Feb 2010

42.8 36.0 32.1 7.5

Mar 2010

69.8 56.3 45.4 13.5

Apr 2010

73.6 74.6 61.3 24.4

May 2010

80.7 86.6 75.6 36.3

Jun 2010

42.4 79.0 74.9 44.1

Jul 2010

50.4 64.3 79.0 56.1

Aug 2010

48.1 42.4 75.1 59.4

Sep 2010

43.9 44.7 67.9 60.4

Oct 2010

76.3 63.7 70.1 67.3

Nov 2010

52.7 64.8 55.2 71.1

Dec 2010

59.8 73.7 62.4 72.9

Jan 2011

55.4 57.0 60.3 74.2

Feb 2011

57.1 61.9 65.7 74.5

Mar 2011

65.2 67.9 74.0 75.6

Apr 2011

67.1 75.5 70.1 72.7

May 2011

41.2 67.0 66.6 62.8

Jun 2011

49.7 56.4 66.9 65.5

Jul 2011

74.9 66.8 75.1 73.2

Aug 2011

55.7 72.3 73.5 74.4

Sep 2011

71.1 81.8 76.9 81.7

Oct 2011

48.2 64.8 71.5 74.2

Nov 2011

61.7 66.8 75.5 76.0

Dec 2011

64.8 63.1 79.8 79.4

Jan 2012

72.9 76.7 74.9 80.3

Feb 2012

68.8 78.9 79.9 81.4

Mar 2012

79.9 83.1 82.7 84.8

Apr 2012

54.1 75.9 80.3 81.1

May 2012

55.8 70.0 79.9 83.9

Jun 2012

61.7 58.1 78.0 83.8

Jul 2012

49.6 57.0 70.5 76.5

Aug 2012

66.8 64.4 69.8 80.0

Sep 2012

67.8 67.5 66.0 80.0

Oct 2012

67.0 76.7 71.5 82.9

Nov 2012

64.0 75.4 73.3 83.1

Dec 2012

65.2 73.7 73.7 81.6

Jan 2013

63.4 70.2 78.5 79.8

Feb 2013

73.7 79.5 82.3 80.2

Mar 2013

63.3 75.9 79.9 75.6

Apr 2013

58.2 75.0 79.1 78.2

May 2013

65.2 68.7 78.6 79.6

Jun 2013

66.6 68.4 77.2 81.6

Jul 2013

60.3 70.6 73.7 82.6

Aug 2013

71.5 76.4 76.5 84.1

Sep 2013

69.1 77.8 76.9 83.6

Oct 2013

65.6 77.8 80.5 83.6

Nov 2013

69.1 74.7 81.3 83.1

Dec 2013

64.2 73.2 79.6 84.3

Jan 2014

58.0 68.7 78.4 81.3

Feb 2014

61.6 66.5 77.7 79.9

Mar 2014

71.6 73.6 78.5 82.1

Apr 2014

72.3 82.0 83.2 86.6

May 2014

73.2 83.4 83.4 85.7

Jun 2014

67.5 83.5 83.9 87.5

Jul 2014

61.3 74.2 86.7 88.5

Aug 2014

72.6 74.5 86.1 86.6

Sep 2014

72.8 77.2 86.9 88.0

Oct 2014

69.2 79.9 85.6 88.4

Nov 2014

72.4 79.8 84.5 87.9

Dec 2014

73.2 81.8 86.1 88.5

Jan 2015

56.3 80.0 82.5 87.8

Feb 2015

63.8 74.5 80.2 89.0

Mar 2015

53.9 62.5 76.0 87.0

Apr 2015

61.1 65.1 75.6 83.9

May 2015

82.3 77.1 80.9 86.5

Jun 2015

63.7 78.2 77.3 85.8

Jul 2015

68.8 84.1 76.7 85.8

Aug 2015

71.3 74.5 80.4 86.1

Sep 2015

61.0 74.1 82.2 83.2

Oct 2015

69.7 75.9 85.2 84.0

Nov 2015

68.0 74.6 78.0 83.6

Dec 2015

66.2 73.2 80.2 82.0

Jan 2016

57.6 71.1 78.2 83.5

Feb 2016

70.2 72.4 76.0 83.4

Mar 2016

62.0 69.5 76.0 83.4

Apr 2016

68.2 77.1 76.7 85.8

May 2016

51.2 67.3 72.8 79.0

Jun 2016

47.3 57.7 69.8 75.8

Jul 2016

82.5 71.3 78.4 79.6

Aug 2016

59.4 76.2 74.7 78.0

Sep 2016

70.7 85.1 75.6 80.3

Oct 2016

53.0 66.9 75.8 77.7

Nov 2016

69.8 73.6 78.2 78.2

Dec 2016

57.3 64.7 80.5 77.3

Jan 2017

61.0 70.0 72.8 79.4

Feb 2017

66.8 68.9 74.6 78.6

Mar 2017

71.3 76.5 74.5 79.8

Apr 2017

57.5 72.0 77.6 79.1

May 2017

59.8 68.4 73.7 79.9

Jun 2017

76.0 69.6 80.2 84.9

Jul 2017

51.9 71.6 75.0 78.4

Aug 2017

67.9 75.6 75.8 79.0

Sep 2017

58.8 60.8 67.3 74.7

Oct 2017

67.0 73.8 73.8 78.2

Nov 2017

65.7 70.7 77.3 77.7

Dec 2017

68.6 73.8 72.8 80.5

Jan 2018

65.1 74.2 80.3 80.3

Feb 2018

75.0 80.2 81.6 80.5

Mar 2018

69.3 80.9 84.9 81.8

Apr 2018

53.2 72.9 80.4 81.1

May 2018

71.4 73.6 83.8 85.2

Jun 2018

74.4 76.7 83.8 85.3

Jul 2018

62.2 81.3 83.8 87.2

Aug 2018

64.4 77.2 81.2 86.3

Sep 2018

59.9 68.4 77.6 85.7

Oct 2018

67.5 72.8 84.7 87.0

Nov 2018

65.5 72.3 80.0 86.3

Dec 2018

57.2 67.9 74.4 84.5

Jan 2019

77.7 79.4 80.5 86.0

Feb 2019

53.5 73.3 76.5 83.2

Mar 2019

54.6 74.9 76.7 81.2

Apr 2019

60.4 56.4 75.0 83.8

May 2019

54.1 58.5 70.4 78.1

Jun 2019

54.6 55.4 67.4 72.4

Jul 2019

66.1 60.8 60.2 74.7

Aug 2019

62.0 67.1 64.3 74.1

Sep 2019

46.0 66.4 62.5 73.6

Oct 2019

60.7 60.3 62.6 71.0

Nov 2019

67.3 63.7 68.3 72.7

Dec 2019

59.3 67.9 74.6 72.3

Jan 2020

73.7 75.9 76.8 70.4

Feb 2020

56.6 71.8 73.2 72.6

Mar 2020

12.1 29.0 42.7 52.2

Apr 2020

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

May 2020

90.7 0.3 0.3 0.5

Jun 2020

98.2 0.4 0.6 1.4

Jul 2020

82.5 97.9 1.0 2.6

Aug 2020

86.0 97.9 1.9 3.5

Sep 2020

65.3 92.5 2.6 4.0

Oct 2020

73.7 86.7 98.7 4.8

In October 2020, the diffusion indexes for 1, 3, and 6 months were much higher than the 12-month diffusion index. The 1-, 3-, and 6-month indexes were greater then 50, which means most metropolitan areas had employment increases over the shorter periods. The 1-month index was 73.7, the 3-month index was 86.7, and the 6-month index was 98.7.

Data for metropolitan area employment diffusion indexes are from the Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more about state and metro area employment diffusion indexes, see New Measures of How Widespread Employment Changes Are across States and Metro Areas. Also see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — October 2020." We also have more charts and maps of metropolitan area employment and unemployment.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Most metropolitan areas had employment losses for the year ended in October 2020 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/most-metropolitan-areas-had-employment-losses-for-the-year-ended-in-october-2020.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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