In March, Chester County, Pa., had the lowest unemployment rate in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area at 3.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that at 6.7 percent, Philadelphia County, Pa., had the highest unemployment rate among the 11 counties that make up the metropolitan area. Three other counties also had jobless rates greater than the U.S. average of 5.1 percent. The rates for the remaining six area counties ranged from 5.0 percent in Gloucester County, N.J., to 4.2 percent in Montgomery County, Pa. (See chart 1 and chart 2. The Technical Note at the end of this release contains the metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

From March 2015 to March 2016, 10 of the 11 counties in the Philadelphia metropolitan area had unemployment rate declines. Salem County, N.J., had the largest decline at 2.0 percentage points. The three counties that make up the Camden, N.J., metropolitan division followed with declines of 1.8 percentage points in both Camden and Gloucester, and 1.5 points in Burlington. Cecil County, Md., with a decline of 0.9 percentage point, was the only other county with an over-the-year rate decrease that exceeded the national decline of 0.5 point. The decrease in New Castle County, Del., was equal to the national rate decline. The unemployment rate in Chester County, Pa., was unchanged since March 2015. (See table A.)

Table A. Unemployment rates for the United States, the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its components, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Unemployment rate			Change from
	March 2014	March 2015	March 2016 (p)	March 2014 to March 2016 (p)	March 2015 to March 2016 (p)
United States	6.8	5.6	5.1	-1.7	-0.5
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	6.8	5.6	5.0	-1.8	-0.6
Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division	8.0	6.5	6.1	-1.9	-0.4
Delaware County, Pa.	5.9	4.9	4.8	-1.1	-0.1
Philadelphia County, Pa.	8.8	7.1	6.7	-2.1	-0.4
Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, Pa. Metropolitan Division	5.2	4.3	4.2	-1.0	-0.1
Montgomery County, Pa.	5.1	4.3	4.2	-0.9	-0.1
Bucks County, Pa.	5.9	4.9	4.7	-1.2	-0.2
Chester County, Pa.	4.5	3.8	3.8	-0.7	0.0
Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division	7.7	6.6	5.0	-2.7	-1.6
Burlington County, N.J.	6.9	5.9	4.4	-2.5	-1.5
Camden County, N.J.	8.3	7.2	5.4	-2.9	-1.8
Gloucester County, N.J.	8.0	6.8	5.0	-3.0	-1.8
Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division	6.3	5.2	4.5	-1.8	-0.7
New Castle County, Del.	5.8	4.7	4.2	-1.6	-0.5
Cecil County, Md.	7.2	6.5	5.6	-1.6	-0.9
Salem County, N.J.	9.3	8.2	6.2	-3.1	-2.0
Footnotes (p) Data for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area and its components are preliminary for the most recent month.

Unemployment rates in all 11 Philadelphia-area counties were lower in March 2016 than in March 2014. Salem County, N.J., had the largest two-year jobless rate decrease at 3.1 percentage points. Chester County, Pa., had the smallest decrease at 0.7 percentage point, and was 1 of 6 counties with a smaller decline than the nation’s 1.7 points decrease over the two-year period.

The March 2016 unemployment rates for the four metropolitan divisions in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area were 4.2 percent in the Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, Pa., division; 4.5 percent in the Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J., division; 5.0 percent in the Camden, N.J., division; and 6.1 percent in the Philadelphia, Pa., division. Since March 2015, the Camden division had an unemployment rate decrease of 1.6 percentage points and the Wilmington division had a decline of 0.7 point. The Philadelphia division had a decrease of 0.4 percentage point, followed by the Montgomery division’s decrease of 0.1 point.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment news release for April is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Technical Note

This release presents unemployment rate data for states and counties from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, a federal-state cooperative endeavor. 

Definitions. The labor force and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those used for the official national estimates obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a sample survey of households that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The LAUS program measures employment and unemployment on a place-of-residence basis.  The universe for each is the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over.  Employed persons are those who did any work at all for pay or profit in the reference week (the week including the 12^th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm, plus those not working who had a job from which they were temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation. Unemployed persons are those who were not employed during the reference week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a job sometime in the 4-week period ending with the reference week, and were currently available for work; persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed.  The labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the labor force.

Methods of Estimation. The LAUS program is a hierarchy of non-survey methodologies for indirectly estimating employment and unemployment in states and local areas. Statewide data are produced through a modeling technique that uses estimates of payroll jobs from the Current Employment Statistics survey and unemployment insurance claims counts from the state workforce agencies to mitigate volatility in the direct CPS tabulations of employment and unemployment, respectively. Data for labor market areas, such as metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions, are produced through a building block approach and adjusted proportionally to state model-based totals. Data for counties within labor market areas are produced through a disaggregation technique. A detailed description of the LAUS estimation procedures is available in chapter 4 of the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch4.pdf.

Annual revisions. Labor force and unemployment data for prior years reflect adjustments made at the end of each year, usually implemented with January estimates.  The adjusted estimates reflect updated population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, any revisions in the other data sources, and model reestimation. All substate estimates are reestimated and adjusted to add to the revised model-based estimates.

Area definitions.  The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm. 

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

The Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division includes Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey.

The Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Delaware and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania.

The Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division includes New Castle County in Delaware, Cecil County in Maryland, and Salem County in New Jersey.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone:  (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.