March 18, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Unemployment rates in metropolitan divisions, January 2005

Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are composed of 34 metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers within a metropolitan area. BLS is now publishing unemployment and payroll employment data for these recently defined divisions.

[Chart data—TXT]

In January 2005 the lowest unemployment rate among the metropolitan divisions, at 3.4 percent, was in Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, Maryland. The next lowest, 3.8 percent, was in the nearby division, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland-West Virginia.

The highest unemployment rates among the divisions were in Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan (9.0 percent), and Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Massachusetts-New Hampshire (8.9 percent).

These data are from the BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment: January 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-433. Data for January 2005 are preliminary and subject to revision. Note: the "metropolitan divisions" in New England are technically referred to as New England City and Town Area (NECTA) divisions.