Big U.S. Cities are Adding Jobs, Cutting Unemployment Rates

Did I mention we are in the boom phase of the Fed-created boom-bust cycle?

Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million, all but two saw nonfarm payrolls increase over the past year, reports WSJ.

The San Jose, Calif., metro area led the way, boosting employment 4.8% from September 2014 to September 2015, according to the Labor Department. Orlando, Fla., Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Antonio, Texas, followed with gains of 3.7%. Jobs fell in New Orleans and Richmond, Va.

 At 3.1%, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City had the lowest unemployment rates in September among metro areas with populations greater than 1 million. All together, 49 large areas had over-the-year unemployment rate decreases and two had no change.

The national unemployment rate in September was 4.9%, down from 5.7% a year earlier.

Among major metro areas, Detroit has had the steepest plunge in unemployment over the past year, Partly though because the city’s labor force has been shrinking, accounting for some of the decline in unemployment.

Bismarck, N.D., had the lowest unemployment rate in September, 2.0 percent. Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., had the highest unemployment rates, 26.0 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively.

The largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment among the metropolitan divisions occurred in San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, Calif. (+4.7 percent), followed by San Rafael, Calif. (+4.5 percent), and Tacoma-Lakewood, Wash. (+3.5 percent). The over-the-year percentage decreases in employment occurred in Nashua, N.H.-Mass. (-1.4 percent), Dutchess County-Putnam County, N.Y. (-1.1 percent), Lawrence-Methuen Town-Salem, Mass.-N.H. (-0.3 percent), and Lake County-KenoshaCounty, Ill.-Wis. (-0.2 percent).

-RW