Metropolitan area unemployment: July 2008–09

The largest July 2008–09 over-the-year metropolitan area employment decrease was recorded in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA (-240,100), followed by Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI (-206,200), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA (-157,900), and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (-143,100).

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The largest July 2008–09 over-the-year metropolitan area percentage decline in employment was reported in Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ (-9.3 percent), followed by Prescott AZ (-8.9 percent) Reno-Sparks NV (-8.4 percent), and Holland-Grand Haven, MI (-8.3 percent).

Unemployment rates were higher in July 2009 than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas. Among the 369 metropolitan areas for which nonfarm payroll data were available, 353 areas reported over-the-year decreases in nonfarm payroll employment, 14 reported increases, and 2 had not change. Nonfarm employment declined in all 38 metropolitan areas with annual average employment levels above 750,000 in 2008.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. The most recent metropolitan area unemployment rates are preliminary and subject to revision. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment: July 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1065.