Jobless rates rise in 99.7% of cities

WASHINGTON — Unemployment rose in all but one of the 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the U.S. Labor Department at the start of 2009, according to government data released Thursday.

That means jobless rates rose in January in 99.7 percent of the cities compared with a year ago. By comparison, in January 2008, one month into the current recession, unemployment increased in only 234 metro areas, or 63 percent.

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, where the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.4 percent, was the only metro area that didn't see an increase. All 49 metro areas with more than 1 million people saw their rates rise in the past year, the department said.

The January unemployment rate for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area was 7.5 percent. In January 2008, it was 4.2 percent.

Most economists expect job losses to mount this year, even with the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package and other government efforts.

The nationwide unemployment rate, which stood at 8.1 percent in February, could reach 10 percent by the end of this year. Adjusted for seasonal variations, the jobless rate in Washington state shot up to 8.4 percent in February.

Initial jobless claims fell slightly last week to 646,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, but topped 600,000 for the seventh consecutive week. The number of people continuing to receive benefits reached a record of 5.47 million people, nearly double the 2.85 million a year ago.

"The average duration of unemployment is getting longer as laid-off workers struggle to find new employment," David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities, wrote in a client note.

Fourteen areas had unemployment rates above 15 percent in January, the department said. Ten of those areas are in California, including seasonal agricultural hub El Centro, which has the nation's highest jobless rate of 24.2 percent, the department said.

The next-highest rates were in Merced, Calif., at 18.9 percent and Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., with 18.3 percent of its people out of work.

Elkhart-Goshen also posted the biggest increase in its unemployment rate since last year, with a jump of 13 points, the department said. The region has been bruised by layoffs in the recreational-vehicle industry. Hundreds of workers have lost their jobs at RV makers such as Monaco, Keystone and Pilgrim.

Economic-development directors in the neighboring Iowa cities of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, which are about 100 miles northeast of Des Moines, said their success hinges on 5,100 jobs at tractor maker Deere, the area's relative economic isolation and an unexpected upside to last spring's flooding from repairing damaged homes and businesses.

Among the 49 largest cities, the highest unemployment rates were in the Detroit area, at 13 percent, and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., at 11.8 percent. Detroit has been battered by plummeting auto sales, while the Riverside-San Bernardino area has suffered a major housing bust.

Financial center Charlotte, N.C., home to Bank of America and Wachovia, saw the biggest jump among large cities, with its unemployment rate nearly doubling to 10.5 percent from 5.3 percent.