Metropolitan Area Employment And Unemployment: July 2002 — 2002-08-28

(This release was reissued Wednesday, September 4, 2002, to correct errors in the text on metropolitan area unemployment rates. Data in tables were correct as initially reported.) In July, 257 metropolitan areas recorded higher unemployment rates than a year earlier, 61 areas had lower rates, and 13 areas had rates that were unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Eleven metropolitan areas posted jobless rates of at least 10.0 percent, six of which were located in California's agricultural Central Valley. Eighteen areas reported unemployment rates below 3.0 percent, with eight of these located in the Midwest, six in the South, and four in the Northeast. The national unemployment rate was unchanged in July at 6.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted.