November 29, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counties with employment declines last year

Of the 248 largest counties in the United States, 111 experienced declines in employment from 2000 to 2001.

[Chart data—TXT]

The largest percentage decline in employment in 2001 was in Elkhart County, Ind. (-6.8 percent). The counties of Lorain and Mahoning in Ohio had the next largest decline (-3.5 percent each), followed by San Francisco, Calif. and Macomb, Mich. (-3.4 percent each).

The largest absolute declines in employment in 2001 occurred in Cook County, Ill. (-37,351), New York County, N.Y. (-32,910), Wayne County, Mich. (-27,974), Santa Clara County, Calif. (-22,112), and San Francisco County, Calif. (-20,423). 

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data. Pay data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. Find more information on employment in large counties in 2001 in "Employment and Average Annual Pay for Large Counties, 2001," news release USDL 02-650. The largest counties are defined as those with covered employment levels of 100,000 or more in 2001.