The cities with the highest unemployment were:
- Yuma, Ariz., at 26.1%
- El Centro, Calif, at 22.0%
- Ocean City, N.J., at 16.2%
- Merced, Calif., at 15.9%
- Yuba City, Calif., at 15.6%
- Visalia, Calif., at 15.2%
- Hanford, Calif., at 14.9%
- Fresno, Calif., at 13.6%
- Modesto, Calif., at 13.3%
- Stockton at 13.2%
A number of other cities in the central valley region of California also had unemployment rates above 10%, including Santa Cruz and Redding. Much of this region’s employment is based on an agricultural industry that has been badly damaged.
Among the other cities with unemployment above 10% were several in the industrial Midwest, including Decatur and Rockford, Ill., both at 12.9%. Peoria’s unemployment rate just missed the cut at 9.8%.
At the other end of the spectrum, 41 cities (MSAs) had unemployment below 10%, led by Midland, Texas, at 2.9%. Texas continues to prosper because of the energy boom. Of the 25 MSAs in the state, eight had jobless rates under 5%. This included the state capital, Austin, where the unemployment rate was 4.7%
Not surprisingly, unemployment in several MSAs located within the Plains states was particularly low. Many of these states have extremely low jobless rates.
For the time being, there is no reason to believe that the jobs situations in the hardest hit cities will improve much. They dynamics of their regional economies have recovered too little from the Great Recession.
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