Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary

Technical information:
   Employment:          (202) 691-6559         USDL 04-2258
               http://www.bls.gov/sae/
   Unemployment:              691-6392          
               http://www.bls.gov/lau/         For release:  10:00 A.M. EST       
Media contact:                691-5902         Wednesday, November 3, 2004


      METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT:  SEPTEMBER 2004
     
   In September, 265 metropolitan areas recorded lower unemployment rates
than a year earlier, 43 areas had higher rates, and 23 areas had rates that
were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of
Labor reported today.  Twenty-five metropolitan areas registered jobless
rates below 3.0 percent, with 12 of these located in the South and 8 in the
Midwest.  Seven areas posted unemployment rates of at least 10.0 percent;
five of these were located in California, and the other two were along the
Mexican border in other states.  The national unemployment rate was 5.1
percent, not seasonally adjusted, in September.
   
Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

   Ninety-nine metropolitan areas had jobless rates below 4.0 percent in
September, up from 58 areas a year earlier, while 27 areas registered un-
employment rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 53 areas in September
2003.  Bryan-College Station, Texas, again recorded the lowest jobless rate
in September, 1.7 percent, followed by Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn., 2.0 per-
cent, and Fort Walton Beach, Fla., 2.1 percent.  This was the eighth con-
secutive month that Bryan-College Station had the lowest unemployment rate.
Of the 25 areas with rates below 3.0 percent, more than one-third were home
to large state universities.  Yuma, Ariz., where summer jobless rates are
roughly double those of the winter, again posted the highest unemployment
rate, 27.8 percent.  The next highest rate was recorded in Visalia-Tulare-
Porterville, Calif., 12.8 percent.  (See table 1.) 


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    |            Hurricane Effects on State and Metropolitan           |
    |                      Area Payroll Employment                     |
    |                                                                  |
    |    Four hurricanes struck the U.S. during August and September:  |
    | Charley in mid-August, Frances early in September, Ivan in mid-  |
    | September, and Jeanne late in the month.  BLS made additional    |
    | data collection efforts for the hurricane-affected counties.     |
    | Establishment survey response rates in September were within the |
    | normal range for these areas as well as for the U.S. as a whole. |
    | For weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll         |
    | employment, people have to be off work for an entire pay period  |
    | and not be paid for the time missed.  While some employed persons|
    | were off payrolls during the survey reference period because of  |
    | the hurricane effects, some jobs were added as part of recovery  |
    | efforts.                                                         |
    |    As a result of the hurricanes, all of Florida and parts of    |
    | Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and    |
    | Pennsylvania were declared disaster areas by the Federal         |
    | Emergency Management Agency.  Although some of these states      |
    | experienced weakness in employment in September, it is not       |
    | possible to quantify precisely the net impact of this unusual    |
    | string of severe weather events on the state and metropolitan    |
    | area payroll employment data.                                    |
     ------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  - 2 -

   In September, two areas in Texas located along the Mexican border ex-
perienced the largest over-the-year unemployment rate decreases, El Paso
(-2.9 percentage points) and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (-2.7 points).  Eight
additional areas reported jobless rate declines of at least 2.0 percentage
points from last year.  Ninety-one other areas had rate decreases of 1.0
percentage point or more over the same period.  Punta Gorda, Fla., which
sustained major damage from Hurricane Charley, registered the largest over-
the-year jobless rate increase (+2.5 percentage points).  The other areas
with rate increases of at least 1.0 percentage point were Sumter, S.C.
(+2.0 percentage points), Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (+1.8 points),
and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, Pa. (+1.1 points).
     
   Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 1990 census population of 1 million
or more, 48 areas reported lower jobless rates than in September 2003, 2
had no change, and 1 posted a slightly higher rate.  Washington, D.C.-Md.-
Va.-W.Va., and Orange County, Calif., continued to record the lowest unem-
ployment rates among the large areas, 3.1 and 3.2 percent, respectively.
Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, N.J., and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater,
Fla., had the next lowest rates, 3.7 percent each.  The highest jobless
rates among the large areas were in Detroit, Mich., 6.7 percent, Portland-
Vancouver, Ore.-Wash., 6.5 percent, and New York, N.Y., 6.4 percent.  San
Jose, Calif., again registered the largest over-the-year jobless rate
decrease (-2.4 percentage points), followed by Seattle-Bellevue-Everett,
Wash. (-2.2 points), and Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-S.C. (-2.0
points).  Nineteen additional areas reported jobless rate declines of at
least 1.0 percentage point.  No large area experienced an over-the-year
rate increase greater than 0.1 percentage point.
   
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
   
   Among the 274 metropolitan areas for which September 2004 nonfarm payroll
data were available, 193 posted over-the-year increases in employment, 76
recorded decreases, and 5 had no change.  The largest over-the-year employ-
ment increases were posted in Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. (+65,600), Las
Vegas, Nev.-Ariz. (+42,500), Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz. (+38,900), St. Louis, Mo.-
Ill. (+38,100), and New York, N.Y. (+36,700).  The largest over-the-year per-
centage increases in employment occurred in Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz. (+5.1 per-
cent), Laredo, Texas (+4.5 percent), Provo-Orem, Utah (+4.4 percent), Boise
City, Idaho, and Reno, Nev. (+4.1 percent each), and Waterloo-Cedar Falls,
Iowa (+3.8 percent).
   
   The largest over-the-year employment declines were recorded in Detroit,
Mich. (-25,800), Lansing-East Lansing, Mich. (-11,700), Hartford, Conn.
(-8,400), Saginaw-Bay City-Midland, Mich. (-7,800), and San Jose, Calif.
(-7,300).  The largest over-the-year percentage decreases in employment
were reported in Lansing-East Lansing, Mich. (-4.8 percent), Saginaw-Bay
City-Midland, Mich. (-4.5 percent), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Houma, La.
(-3.7 percent each), Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.Va. (-3.0 percent), and
Iowa City, Iowa, and Jackson, Mich. (-2.7 percent each).
                                 
   Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 35 of the 39 metropolitan
areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2003.  The
largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these metro-
politan areas occurred in Las Vegas, Nev.-Ariz. (+5.1 percent), St. Louis,
Mo.-Ill. (+2.9 percent), Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wis. (+2.6 percent), Phoenix-
Mesa, Ariz., and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. (+2.4 percent each), and
Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. (+2.3 percent).  Among the 39 large areas,
Detroit, Mich., had the largest over-the-year percentage decline in em-
ployment (-1.3 percent), followed by San Jose, Calif. (-0.9 percent),
Indianapolis, Ind. (-0.8 percent), and Boston, Mass.-N.H. (-0.3 percent).

                                  - 3 -

   Employment growth was most widespread in education and health services,
with 202 of 274 metropolitan areas experiencing over-the-year job gains in
this industry sector.  Employment gains also were prevalent in leisure and
hospitality and in professional and business services, with each industry
recording increases in 169 metropolitan areas.  Manufacturing remained the
weakest industry, with 156 metropolitan areas posting employment losses
over the year.
      
                       ______________________________
     
     
   The Regional and State Employment and Unemployment release for October
2004 is scheduled to be issued on November 19.  The Metropolitan Area
Employment and Unemployment release for October 2004 is scheduled to be
issued on December 1.