Unemployment rates fall in half of large U.S. cities

WASHINGTON Unemployment rates declined last month in more than half of the 372 largest U.S. cities, further evidence of steady improvement in the job market.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that rates fell in 201 metro areas. They rose in 116 and were unchanged in 55. And the number of cities with unemployment below 7 percent rose to 180 last month, up from 107 a year ago.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in September. That was mostly because more Americans began searching for work but not all found jobs. Employers added 171,000 jobs in October and the previous two months were revised higher.

Unlike the national data, the metro unemployment rates are not adjusted for seasonal trends, such as the hiring of many part-time retail employees for the winter holidays. So they tend to be more volatile from month to month.

The number of areas with sharply higher unemployment is declining. Thirty-five metro areas had unemployment rates of 10 percent or above last month. That's the same as the previous month but down from 80 a year ago.

Bismarck, N.D. once again posted the lowest unemployment rate, at 2.2 percent. The city is benefiting from an oil and gas drilling boom.

Yuma, Ariz. and El Centro, Calif. recorded the highest unemployment rates, at 29.8 percent and 28.1 percent, respectively. Both cities include large numbers of migrant farm workers.

[ammo17]

these are ALL i repeat ALL "PART TIME JOBS" for the holidays.come january the unemployment rate will bounce higher than a golf ball on concrete.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Wow, seldom do we see so many impressive numbers bandied about THAT MEAN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Look! We have a number for this and a number for that, and it's so great that so many cities have added new jobs so that the unemployment rate rose. Yes, it makes no sense, but it's all due to the unemployment rate being affected by more people looking for work, in whatever way the powers that be can actually figure out who's looking for work versus those who just watch the Oprah network all day. Not to mention being able to separate out those who are looking for work because their job sucks versus those looking for work because they are unemployed.

Surely, this is a case where application of three fingers of scotch is called for. Repeat the application until this news story starts making sense, and your almost there. Another three fingers of scotch will make you forget all about it, which is probably the best disposition of this news story.

[dj_chi]

It's not that hard. It's looking at local employment versus national employment rates. So there might be more job growth in big cities versus job losses in rural areas. That's worth knowing if you're into seeing where jobs are going.

Congrats on typing before you engaged your brain.

[MerrellOBrian64]

Tough break for the GOP! If Romney would have been elected, they'd immediately say this great news is due to him. As it is, Obama gets to enjoy the hard work his administration has done! Let's see, going into 2013, it's GOP are immigrant hating, gay hating, anti-equality, middle-class hating loser. Granted, it hasn't been a full month yet. In fact, Obama's inaug., hasn't happened yet. Still, the GOP is talking "we weren't enough of an ashwhole". Thanks Rick Santorum! We'll have gay marriage nationwide in 2013 thanks to wide-open bigots just like YOU!!

[kbbpll]

Things are definitely getting better where I live. But then again, in the forty years I've paid attention, no one ever stops yacking about "the economy". People forget it was above 9% for two years under Reagan, and above 7% for most of his 8 years. Funny how it jumps dramatically during the first couple years of every GOP president since Nixon...

[jamie047]

That would be because of state policies not federal policies.

[dj_chi]

It's because of a lot of things. Don't be so simplistic in your thinking.

[ToniTyger]

10,000 people hit retirement age each day.

[dj_chi]

Keep it down!! The hate squad is trying to blame Obama for people leaving the workforce!!

[Rod_Smith]

Yeah, but can they actually retire? Assuming they do, that's 300,000 a month leaving the workforce and only 171,000 getting hired. That means there's 129,000 fewer jobs each month and with our population growth, there are around 200,000 more people, on average, trying to enter the workforce each month. If we keep that up, our real unemployment rate (not the fictitious one reported) will rise more than 1% a year.

[tsigili]

Just how much did employment of the population actually rise?????

This manipulation of the numbers, is really getting old.

[dj_chi]

As the people behind it have said, they use the same formula they've used for years. So it's done the same way under a GOP president as under a Dem one.

[rightontarget]

Of course somebdoy will try and spin it as bad news. (we all know who the "somebodies" are) God forbid anything good happen when President Obama is in charge. That surely would burst "some" people's bubble. LOL!

[thechooch1]

Someone will probably try and spin this good news as bad news, just watch the posts.

[Rod_Smith]

Good news? Unemployment is up in almost 1/3 of the large cities during the month of "Black Friday" and a month before Christmas, and you consider that good news? Of course, we'll never hear about how many of those cities have higher unemployment after the Christmas rush is over. They'll be back to citing the "seasonally adjusted" numbers because the raw numbers used for this story will reflect badly on Barack the messiah.