Unemployment Rates Improve
U.S. metropolitan unemployment rates were lower this May, as compared to a year earlier, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to their data, 274 of the 372 areas reported lower figures.
When compared against the U.S. unemployment rate of 8.7%, 214 areas experienced improved employment.
Overall, Bismarck, North Dakota, has the lowest unemployment rate of 2.9%.
While these encouraging figures are certainly good news for North Dakota and many other states, 85 areas still face the burden of higher unemployment.
“Among the 10 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent in May, Yuma, Arizona, and El Centro, California, recorded the highest unemployment rates, 27.9 and 27.7 percent, respectively. All of the remaining eight areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent were located in California,” the B.L.S. confirms.
Recovery has certainly been slow in the sunshine state, and California still faces a slew of fiscal problems that promise to exacerbate the unemployment situation far into the future.
(This May, 29,000 jobs in California disappeared in the blink of an eye, as officials slashed long-standing payroll positions.)
The recession long since declared over, Californian’s must wonder if their current economic backlash will ever subside. In the meantime, they might take cold comfort in the fact that the majority of unemployment rates are moving in the right direction.