Unemployment in the Philadelphia Area by County:  June 2008 (PDF)

In June, Chester County, Pa., reported the lowest unemployment rate in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), 4.0 percent, followed by Montgomery County, Pa. at 4.4 percent and Bucks County, Pa. and New Castle County, Del., each at 4.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that Philadelphia County, Pa. at 7.2 percent registered the highest unemployment rate among the 11 counties that made up the metropolitan area.  Overall, only 3 of the 11 counties located in the metropolitan area recorded unemployment rates that exceeded the U.S. rate of 5.7 percent, while the remaining 8 counties registered jobless rates lower than that of the nation.  (See chart A.  The Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions.  All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.) 

Chart A.  Unemployment rates for the United States and counties in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area, June 2008

All 11 counties located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area had unemployment rates that were higher in June 2008 than a year earlier.  (See table A.)  Cecil County, Md. registered the largest over-the-year unemployment rate increase (+1.4 percentage point), followed by Burlington County, N.J. (+1.1 point), and Camden County, N.J. and Philadelphia County, Pa. (+1.0 point each).

While the June 2008 unemployment rates for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area were higher than those of June 2007, only 2 (Salem County, N.J. and New Castle County, Del.) of the 11 counties surpassed the levels reached 6 years earlier, after the end of the last recession. The rate in Cecil County, Md. was unchanged during this time period. The counties with the largest net jobless rate decreases over this six-year span were located in the Pennsylvania portion:  Bucks (-0.5 percentage point) and Montgomery and Philadelphia (-0.4 point each).  In June 2002, jobless rates ranged from 4.3 percent in Chester County, Pa., to 7.3 percent in Philadelphia County, Pa.

June 2008 unemployment rates for the three metropolitan divisions in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington MSA were 4.7 percent in Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. and 5.3 percent in both Camden, N.J. and Philadelphia, Pa.  In the Philadelphia metropolitan division, the unemployment rates in four of the five counties were below the overall division’s rate.  In the Camden division, two of the three counties had unemployment rates below the division’s rate.  However, in the Wilmington division, two of the three counties had higher rates.

Technical Notes

This release presents unemployment rate data for states and counties from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, a federal-state cooperative endeavor. 

Definitions.  The labor force and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those used for the official national estimates obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a sample survey of households that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The LAUS program measures employment and unemployment on a place-of-residence basis.  The universe for each is the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over.  Employed persons are those who did any work at all for pay or profit in the reference week (the week including the 12th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm, plus those not working who had a job from which they were temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation.  Unemployed persons are those who were not employed during the reference week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a job sometime in the 4-week period ending with the reference week, and were currently available for work; persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed.  The labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons.  The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the labor force.

Method of estimation.  Estimates for 48 of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division, New York City, and the balances of California and New York State are produced using estimating equations based on regression techniques.  This method, which underwent substantial enhancement at the beginning of 2005, utilizes data from several sources, including the CPS, the CES, and state unemployment insurance (UI) programs.  Estimates for census regions are obtained by summing the model-based estimates for the component divisions and then calculating the unemployment rate.  Each month, census division estimates are controlled to national totals; state estimates are then controlled to their respective division totals.  Estimates for Puerto Rico are derived from a monthly household survey similar to the CPS. A detailed description of the estimation procedures is available from BLS upon request.

Annual revisions.  Labor force and unemployment data for prior years reflect adjustments made at the end of each year.  The adjusted estimates reflect updated population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, any revisions in the other data sources, and model reestimation.  In most years, historical data for the most recent five years (both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted) are revised near the beginning of each calendar year, prior to or coincident with the release of January estimates.

Area definitions.  The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on November 20, 2007.  A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone:  (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral phone:  1-800-877-8339.

For personal assistance or further information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.  Information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and other surveys and programs is available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/ro3/.

For personal assistance or further information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.  Information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and other surveys and programs is available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/ro3/.

Area definitions.  The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated November 20, 2007.  A detailed list of the geographic definitions is published annually in the May issue of Employment and Earnings, available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

The Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey.
The Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania.
The Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes New Castle County in Delaware; Cecil County in Maryland; and Salem County in New Jersey.