January 1999 — 1999-03-17

In January, 201 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below the U.S. average (4.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted), while 117 areas had higher rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Of the eight metropolitan areas with jobless rates of 2.0 percent or less, five were in the South and three were in the Midwest. Of the 17 areas with rates of at least 10 percent, 9 were in California and 5 were along the Mexican border in other states. (Data for the areas in Missouri were not available at the time of release.) Unemployment rates below 3.0 percent were recorded in 55 metropolitan areas in January; rates of 6.0 percent or more were registered in 64 areas. The lowest jobless rates were in Charlottesville, Va. (1.5 percent), and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. (1.6 percent). The highest rates were in Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, Calif. (20.5 percent), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Tex. (19.6 percent), and Yuma, Ariz. (18.7 percent).