Metropolitan Area Employment And Unemployment: May 2006 — 2006-06-28

Unemployment rates were lower in May than a year earlier in 302 of the 367 metropolitan areas, higher in 44 areas, and unchanged in 21 areas, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Forty-four metropolitan areas, including 24 in the South, registered jobless rates below 3.0 percent. Three areas recorded rates of 10.0 percent or more. The national unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 4.9 percent a year earlier. In May, 130 metropolitan areas reported unemployment rates below 4.0 per- cent, up from 90 areas a year earlier, while 19 areas posted rates of at least 7.0 percent, down from 27 areas in May 2005. Fargo, N.D.-Minn., had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.1 percent. Three areas with major state universities re- corded the next lowest rates: Ames, Iowa, Charlottesville, Va., and Iowa City, Iowa, 2.2 percent each.