At least it had company: The Washington metropolitan area was among 350 of the nation’s 389 metros that had higher year-over-year jobless rates in July, according to figures reported Aug. 28 by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With 3,557,972 counted in the civilian workforce and 122,865 looking for jobs, the local region’s unemployment rate of 3.5 percent was up from 2.7 percent a year before.
That compares to a national rate of 4.5 percent, up from 3.8 percent a year before.
The economic-data downturn was widespread but not universal, as 22 of the nation’s 389 metro areas recorded lower jobless rates and 17 had no change from a year before. Thirty areas had rates below 3 percent, while only eight had rates north of 8 percent.
Among all metro corridors, the lowest joblessness for the month was recorded in Sioux Falls, S.D. (1.6%), Rapid City, S.D. (1.8%) and Burlington, Vt. (1.9%). The highest rate was in El Centro, Calif. (18.7%).
Among the nation’s 51 metro areas with populations of more than 1 million, the lowest unemployment rates were reported in Birmingham and Nashville (2.9% each) and the highest in Las Vegas (6.7%).
Across Virginia, July’s jobless rate of 3.3 percent was up from 2.9 percent a year before. Among metro areas outside the Washington area, jobless rates ranged from 3 percent in Winchester to 4 percent in Lynchburg.
In terms of non-farm employment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase in 61 metro areas, a decline in one and essentially no change in the remaining 326.
New York City (+202,900), Los Angeles (+105,000) and Miami (+75,300) were the metro areas with the highest increase in raw non-farm employment, while College Station, Texas (+6%) and Merced, Calif. (+5.2%) had the largest percentage jumps.
