The Labor Department Wednesday said jobless rates rose in 363 of the 369 metropolitan areas from a year earlier.
Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., had the largest jobless rate increase from December 2007, up 10.6 percentage points to 15.3%. At second place, Dalton, Ga., rose 6.2 percentage points to 11.2%.
Both areas were struck by manufacturing layoffs. On Friday, the Labor Department will release its January employment report; economists see the unemployment rate rising to 7.5% from 7.2% during December, with non-farm payrolls shrinking by 524,000 jobs.
The recession deepened at the end of 2008. People are afraid of losing their jobs and are slashing spending. Lower consumer spending means less revenue for businesses. Companies are laying off workers to cut costs and protect profits or stem losses. The economy fell at a rate of 3.8% during fourth-quarter 2008, the government said in a report last week that suggested the slump might worsen in the current, first quarter of 2009.
Wednesday’s Labor Department data on metropolitan area joblessness showed 168 of them in December reported unemployment rates of at least 7.0%. That is up from 33 areas a year earlier.
El Centro, Calif., continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 22.6%. –Jeff Bater
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/02/04/unemployment-rises-in-nearly-all-metro-areas/
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