Metropolitan Area Employment And Unemployment: January 2004 — 2004-03-18

In January, 231 of the 331 metropolitan areas recorded lower unemployment rates than a year earlier, 80 areas had higher rates, and 20 areas had rates that were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Five areas registered unemployment rates below 3.0 percent, with four of these in the South. Fifteen metropolitan areas posted jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent; nine of these were located in Cali- fornia, and three were along the Mexican border in other states. The national unemployment rate in January was 6.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Forty-one metropolitan areas posted jobless rates below 4.0 percent in January, compared with 31 areas a year earlier, while 80 areas recorded unemployment rates of at least 7.0 percent, slightly fewer than the number of such areas (86) in January 2003.