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Awesome to see again. Here's a look at the large metro areas that have decreased the most since April 2013. It would also be interesting to see which have decreased the most since March 2014. I see some of them may have dropped a bit in the matter of just a month:
Also, here's a list of the list of the metros with at least a 1% decrease in unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) between January and April (preliminary numbers) of this year from the list in the OP's message:
1. Providence | -2.5%
2. Cleveland, OH | -2.3%
3. Pittsburgh | -1.9%
4. Cincinnati, OH | -1.8%
5. Columbus, OH | -1.7%
6. Buffalo, NY | -1.6%
7. Las Vegas | -1.5%
8. Philadelphia | -1.5%
9. Phoenix | -1.5%
10. Rochester, NY | -1.5%
11. Memphis, TN | -1.4%
12. Chicago | -1.3%
13. Sacramento | -1.2%
14. Boston | -1.2%
15. Oklahoma City | -1.2%
16. St. Louis, MO | -1.2%
17. Los Angeles | -1.2%
18. Riverside, CA | -1.2%
19. Dallas | -1%
20. Denver | -1%
21. Hartford, CT | -1%
22. Houston | -1%
23. Minneapolis | -1%
24. New York City | -1%
25. San Antonio | -1%
26. San Diego | -1%
27. Seattle | -1%
Don't set off fireworks yet. The big driver in last month's unemployment rate fall was the 800,000 people that left the workforce, either because they gave up looking or they retired or some other reason.
If it wasn't for the decline in our workforce participation rate we would still have unemployment above 8%.
That being said, clearly cities in Texas, and Nashville, and DC, and Minneapolis, are doing a better job of getting their residents employed than places like Atlanta, Chicago, and LA.
I'm shocked at Pittsburgh. I looked at those numbers just yesterday and Pittsburgh had an unemployment rate above 6%. How did it fall so much in just one month? It is now 4.7%.
Don't set off fireworks yet. The big driver in last month's unemployment rate fall was the 800,000 people that left the workforce, either because they gave up looking or they retired or some other reason.
Unemployment is measured against the workforce population, not total population. Unless all of these people who retired or left the workforce were unemployed before, it wouldn't matter that much.
Unemployment is measured against the workforce population, not total population. Unless all of these people who retired or left the workforce were unemployed before, it wouldn't matter that much.
But most of them probably were. It is very common for young people today to send out 30 resumes, not hear back from any of them, and then just give up looking for a few months. I have done that several times over the course of the Great Recession.
Another phenomenon going on right now with older workers is many of them are using an illness that they might have to qualify for disability until they turn 65 and can go on social security. Boomers as a group are displaying considerably higher workforce participation rates as they age compared to other generations, but their bulk is dragging down the participation rate as they age.
I'm shocked at Pittsburgh. I looked at those numbers just yesterday and Pittsburgh had an unemployment rate above 6%. How did it fall so much in just one month? It is now 4.7%.
Unlike state and national unemployment rates, rates for metro areas are not seasonally adjusted. In places with temperate climates unemployment rises in the winter and falls in the spring and summer. The effect is more pronounced as you go farther north, seasonal adjustment of rates takes out this effect, so part of what you are seeing in Pittsburgh (and other northern metros) is spring hiring.
But most of them probably were. It is very common for young people today to send out 30 resumes, not hear back from any of them, and then just give up looking for a few months. I have done that several times over the course of the Great Recession.
Another phenomenon going on right now with older workers is many of them are using an illness that they might have to qualify for disability until they turn 65 and can go on social security. Boomers as a group are displaying considerably higher workforce participation rates as they age compared to other generations, but their bulk is dragging down the participation rate as they age.
Yep! Rather than classify those people as unemployed. They are classified as not in the labor force.
Looking for work = unemployed. Not looking for work (but would gladly accept a job offer) = not in the labor force = not counted in the unemployment numbers = a decrease in the number of the unemployed.
I did some fact checking to this. These facts are comparing January to April.
1) Out of the 49 MSAs in the original link, 22 of them (i.e. less than 50%) lost workforce population. The other 27 gained workforce population
2) 4 MSAs (8%) lost employed population - Birmingham, Detroit, Buffalo, and Riverside (CA).
3) 7 MSAs (14%) gained less of an employed population than it lost for workforce population - Memphis, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Detroit, Riverside (CA), Buffalo, and Birmingham.
4) The total change in workforce population amongst the 49 MSAs was +209,017 people. The total change in employed population was +1,084,744. That means that 875,727 people who were part of these MSAs and unemployed in January, have found work by April.
5) Out of the above, the people who have found work since January, the following MSAs have the highest percentage increase of these relative to their current workforce populations:
1. Providence | 2.437%
2. Cleveland, OH | 2.262%
3. Pittsburgh | 1.802%
4. Cincinnati, OH | 1.765%
5. Columbus, OH | 1.705%
6. Las Vegas | 1.627%
7. Memphis, TN | 1.537%
8. Philadelphia | 1.527%
9. Rochester, NY | 1.498%
10. Chicago | 1.338%
11. Oklahoma City | 1.274%
12. Sacramento | 1.223%
13. Phoenix | 1.193%
14. Los Angeles | 1.183%
15. Boston | 1.173%
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