July 23, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Variation in women's employment across metropolitan areas, 1999

The proportion of women with jobs varied greatly across metropolitan areas in 1999. In some areas, the proportion was well below the national average of 57.4 percent, while in other areas it was well above.

[Chart data—TXT]

The two largest metropolitan areas in the country were among the areas with the lowest proportions of women who worked for pay in 1999. In the New York metropolitan area, 49.2 percent of women had jobs, while in Los Angeles, the proportion was 52.7 percent.

In contrast, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, more than two-thirds (70.7 percent) of women were employed. The metropolitan areas with the next highest levels of employment were Atlanta, where 65.9 percent of women worked for pay, and Washington, DC, where 64.5 percent of women were employed.

These data on employment are a product of the Current Population Survey. Additional information is available from Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 1999 (PDF 994K) (BLS Bulletin 2537).