The Growing Set of Metro Areas With Unemployment Under 3%

Twice as many metro areas now have unemployment rates under 3% compared with a year ago. The number of metro areas with ultralow jobless rates more than doubled to 25 in December, according to the Labor Department. Those tight labor markets have drawn nearly 58,000 new workers, bringing their total labor force to 4.33 million. While last year saw the second-highest level of job creation since the recession, pockets of pain remain. Some 1.87 million workers face a job market with unemployment of at least 10%. The number of areas with those high unemployment rates fell only marginally, from 14 in December 2014 to 12 in December 2015. And the number of workers living in those 12 abysmal job markets has stayed relatively steady, falling by only 6,540. Despite a year of low oil prices, North Dakota still boasts a state unemployment rate of 2.8%, not seasonally adjusted, and three of its metro areas–Bismarck, Fargo and Grand Forks–have rates even lower. (The state rate is seasonally adjusted; metro rates aren’t.) The other pockets are scattered around the country, for example, three in New Hampshire, and two each in Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Minnesota. Many of the areas with double-digit unemployment rates are in inland California, a working-class region hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.