The 2012 Year in Unemployment

I recently looked at the changes in jobs in metro areas for 2012. Here’s a follow-on look at unemployment. First a look at the national unemployment rate picture, which has improved remarkably.




2012 Unemployment Rate by County

To put this in perspective, here’s the corresponding map for 2009:




2009 Unemployment Rate by County

It’s interesting to see where there has been improvement versus where there hasn’t, though I stop thresholding at 10% so that if people we well above it but dropped to just merely above it, my maps wouldn’t show that improvement.

Here’s a look at the large metro areas, ranked by total decline in unemployment rate.

Rank by Total Improvement Metro Area 2011 2012 Total Change
1 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV 13.5 11.2 -2.3
2 Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL 10.2 8.4 -1.8
3 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 10.6 8.8 -1.8
4 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL 10.2 8.5 -1.7
5 Jacksonville, FL 9.9 8.3 -1.6
6 Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA 11.9 10.4 -1.5
7 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 7.9 6.4 -1.5
8 Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN 8.6 7.1 -1.5
9 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 13.6 12.1 -1.5
10 Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN 8.1 6.6 -1.5
11 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN 9.7 8.3 -1.4
12 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 10.0 8.6 -1.4
13 Columbus, OH 7.5 6.1 -1.4
14 Kansas City, MO-KS 8.0 6.6 -1.4
15 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 8.1 6.8 -1.3
16 Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC 10.8 9.5 -1.3
17 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 8.7 7.4 -1.3
18 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 9.4 8.1 -1.3
19 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA 11.4 10.1 -1.3
20 Salt Lake City, UT 6.7 5.5 -1.2
21 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ 8.5 7.3 -1.2
22 St. Louis, MO-IL 8.8 7.6 -1.2
23 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 7.8 6.7 -1.1
24 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 10.0 8.9 -1.1
25 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI 11.6 10.5 -1.1
26 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA 9.3 8.2 -1.1
27 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA 9.8 8.8 -1.0
28 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX 6.8 5.8 -1.0
29 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 7.5 6.5 -1.0
30 Memphis, TN-MS-AR 10.0 9.0 -1.0
31 Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI 9.8 8.9 -0.9
32 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 6.3 5.5 -0.8
33 Raleigh-Cary, NC 8.5 7.7 -0.8
34 Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA – Metro 11.1 10.3 -0.8
35 Richmond, VA 7.1 6.4 -0.7
36 New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA 7.2 6.5 -0.7
37 Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH 7.8 7.1 -0.7
38 Oklahoma City, OK 5.5 4.8 -0.7
39 Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO 8.6 7.9 -0.7
40 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT – Metro 9.0 8.4 -0.6
41 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI 8.0 7.4 -0.6
42 Indianapolis-Carmel, IN 8.4 7.8 -0.6
43 Baltimore-Towson, MD 7.7 7.2 -0.5
44 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC 7.1 6.6 -0.5
45 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH – Metro 6.6 6.1 -0.5
46 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 6.0 5.6 -0.4
47 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 8.6 8.6 0.0
48 Pittsburgh, PA 7.2 7.2 0.0
49 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 8.6 8.8 0.2
50 Rochester, NY 7.8 8.1 0.3
51 Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY 8.1 8.5 0.4

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