Republished with permission from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, June 2, 2021 USDL-21-0978
Technical information:
Employment: sminfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/sae
Unemployment: lausinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/lau
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- APRIL 2021
Unemployment rates were lower in April than a year earlier in all 389 metropolitan
areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. A total of 27 areas had
jobless rates of less than 3.0 percent and 10 areas had rates of at least 10.0
percent. Nonfarm payroll employment increased over the year in 335 metropolitan
areas and was essentially unchanged in 54 areas. The national unemployment rate
in April was 5.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 14.4 percent a year
earlier.
This news release presents statistics from two monthly programs. The civilian labor
force and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those
used for the national household survey estimates. These data pertain to individuals
by where they reside. The employment data are from an establishment survey that
measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. These data pertain
to jobs on payrolls defined by where the establishments are located. For more
information about the concepts and statistical methodologies used by these two
programs, see the Technical Note.
Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, Logan, UT-ID, had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.0 percent, followed by
Huntsville, AL, and Lincoln, NE, 2.2 percent each. El Centro, CA, had the highest
rate, 16.1 percent. A total of 237 areas had April jobless rates below the U.S. rate
of 5.7 percent, 143 areas had rates above it, and 9 areas had rates equal to that
of the nation. (See table 1.)
The largest over-the-year unemployment rate decreases occurred in Elkhart-Goshen,
IN (-27.8 percentage points), and Kokomo, IN (-24.9 points). Rates fell over the
year by at least 15.0 percentage points in an additional 25 areas.
Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census population of 1 million or more,
Birmingham-Hoover, AL, and Salt Lake City, UT, had the lowest jobless rates among
the large areas, 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Los Angeles-Long Beach-
Anaheim, CA, had the highest unemployment rate in April, 9.9 percent, followed by
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV, 9.0 percent. All 51 large areas had over-the-year
unemployment rate decreases. The largest jobless rate declines were in Las Vegas-
Henderson-Paradise, NV (-24.3 percentage points); Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
(-20.9 points); and Cleveland-Elyria, OH (-17.2 points).
Metropolitan Division Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are made up of 38 metropolitan
divisions, which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers. In
April, Nashua, NH-MA, had the lowest division unemployment rate, 2.8 percent. Los
Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA, had the highest rate among the divisions, 11.0
percent. (See table 2.)
In April, all 38 metropolitan divisions had over-the-year unemployment rate
decreases. Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI, had the largest rate decline (-21.3
percentage points), followed by Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI (-20.7 points).
The smallest rate decreases occurred in Silver Spring-Frederick-Rockville, MD (-2.3
percentage points), and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL (-3.4 points).
Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, 335 metropolitan areas had over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll
employment and 54 were essentially unchanged. The largest over-the-year employment
increases occurred in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (+966,700), Los Angeles-
Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (+431,600), and Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (+378,800). The
largest over-the-year percentage gains in employment occurred in Elkhart-Goshen,
IN (+52.8 percent), Ocean City, NJ (+46.7 percent), and Atlantic City-Hammonton,
NJ (+31.5 percent). (See table 3.)
Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in all metropolitan areas with a 2010
Census population of 1 million or more. The largest over-the-year percentage
increases in employment in these large metropolitan areas occurred in Detroit-Warren-
Dearborn, MI (+25.2 percent), Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV (+19.3 percent),
and Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY (+18.7 percent).
Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
In April, nonfarm payroll employment increased in all 38 metropolitan divisions.
The largest over-the-year increase in employment among the metropolitan divisions
occurred in New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ (+664,400), followed by Los
Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA (+295,300), and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI
(+252,000). (See table 4.)
The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment occurred in Warren-
Troy-Farmington Hills, MI (+27.4 percent), Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI (+21.7
percent), and Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury Town, MA-NH (+21.4 percent).
_____________
The State Employment and Unemployment news release for May is scheduled to be
released on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The Metropolitan Area
Employment and Unemployment news release for May is scheduled to be released
on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).
______________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on April 2021 |
| Establishment and Household Survey Data |
| |
| BLS has continued to review all estimation and methodological procedures for the |
| establishment survey, which included the review of data, estimation processes, |
| the application of the birth-death model, and seasonal adjustment. Business |
| births and deaths cannot be adequately captured by the establishment survey as |
| they occur. Therefore, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program uses a |
| model to account for the relatively stable net employment change generated by |
| business births and deaths. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the relationship |
| between business births and deaths is no longer stable. Typically, reports with |
| zero employment are not included in estimation. For the March final and April |
| preliminary estimates, CES included a portion of these reports in the estimates |
| and made modifications to the birth-death model. In addition for both months, the |
| establishment survey included a portion of the reports that returned to reporting |
| positive employment from reporting zero employment. For more information, see |
| www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm. |
| |
| In the establishment survey, workers who are paid by their employer for all or |
| any part of the pay period including the 12th of the month are counted as employed, |
| even if they were not actually at their jobs. Workers who are temporarily or |
| permanently absent from their jobs and are not being paid are not counted as |
| employed, even if they are continuing to receive benefits. The length of the |
| reference period does vary across the respondents in the establishment survey; |
| one-third of businesses have a weekly pay period, slightly over 40 percent a |
| bi-weekly, about 20 percent semi-monthly, and a small amount monthly. |
| |
| For the April 2021 estimates of household employment and unemployment from the |
| Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, BLS continued to implement |
| level-shift outliers in the employment and/or unemployment inputs to the state |
| models, based on statistical evaluation of movements in each area's inputs. Both |
| the Current Population Survey inputs, which serve as the primary inputs to the |
| LAUS models, and the nonfarm payroll employment and unemployment insurance claims |
| covariates were examined for outliers. The resulting implementation of level |
| shifts preserved movements in the published estimates that the models otherwise |
| would have discounted, without requiring changes to how the models create |
| estimates at other points in the time series. |
| |
| The "Frequently asked questions" document at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment- |
| situation-covid19-faq-april-2021.htm extensively discusses the impact of a |
| misclassification in the household survey on the national estimates for April |
| 2021. Despite the considerable decline in its degree relative to prior months, |
| this misclassification continued to be widespread geographically, with BLS |
| analysis indicating that most states again were affected to at least some extent. |
| However, according to usual practice, the data from the household survey are |
| accepted as recorded. To maintain data integrity, no ad hoc actions are taken |
| to reclassify survey responses. Hence, the household survey estimates of employed |
| and unemployed people that serve as the primary inputs to the state models were |
| affected to varying degrees by the misclassification, which in turn affected |
| the official LAUS estimates for April 2021. Similar misclassifications had |
| occurred in the household survey from March 2020 through March 2021 (see |
| www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-and-response-on-the-employment- |
| situation-news-release.htm#summaries). |
| |
| Household data for substate areas are controlled to the employment and unemployment |
| totals for their respective model-based areas. Hence, the preliminary April and |
| revised March estimates for substate areas reflect the use of level-shift |
| outliers, where implemented, in the inputs for their model-based control areas. |
| The substate area estimates also were impacted by misclassification in the |
| household survey, in proportion to the impacts of the misclassifications on the |
| data for their model-based control areas. |
| |
| Household data for Puerto Rico are not modeled, but rather are derived from a |
| monthly household survey similar to the Current Population Survey. The Puerto |
| Rico Department of Labor has reported a misclassification in its household survey |
| since May 2020 similar in nature to the misclassification in the Current |
| Population Survey, which has affected the local area data proportionally. |
|______________________________________________________________________________________|
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