Louisiana's Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux region had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.5 percent.
El-Centro, Calif., continued to lay claim to the highest unemployment rate -- 24.5 percent. The jobless rate is notoriously high in the area, where many unemployed are seasonal agriculture workers.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment rates moved higher in all of the nation's largest metropolitan areas in February with Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen and North Carolina's Hickory-Lenoir-Morgantown registering the biggest annual increases.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday that all 372 metropolitan areas tracked saw their jobless rates rise in February from a year earlier.
Eklhart-Goshen's jobless rate soared to 18 percent, up 12.5 percentage points. The area has been battered by layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry. RV makers Monaco Coach Corp., Keystone RV Co. and Pilgrim International have cut hundreds of jobs.
The unemployment rate in Hickory-Lenoir-Morgantown, hit by layoffs at furniture makers, jumped to 15.7 percent, a 9.3 percentage point increase.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released last month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will climb to 8.5 percent in March |
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