February 7, 2012 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Metropolitan area employment and unemployment, December 2011

Metropolitan area unemployment rate comparisons, versus prior year and U.S. unemployment rate, December 2011, not seasonally adjusted
Comparison	Number of areas (p)
Metropolitan area unemployment rates compared to U.S. unemployment rate of 8.3 percent (December 2011)
Below	225
Above	143
Equal	4
Metropolitan area unemployment rates compared to prior year unemployment rate (December 2010)
Higher	36
Lower	329
Unchanged	7
Footnotes: (p) = preliminary

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