WASHINGTON — The D.C. metro area still has one of the lowest unemployment rates among big cities, holding steady at 3.6 percent in May, and down sharply from a metro wide unemployment rate of 4.6 percent a year earlier.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says unemployment rates fell in 333 of the nation’s 387 metropolitan statistical areas, rose in 49 and were unchanged in 5.
Among metros with a population of 1 million or more, Austin has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate in May, at just 2.9 percent. Las Vegas had the highest, at 6.4 percent in May.
Among all metropolitan statistical areas, the lowest unemployment rate last month was a tie between Ames, Iowa; Burlington, Vermont; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, each with a May jobless rate of 2.1 percent.
Yuma, Arizona, had the nation’s highest unemployment rate in May, at 20.9 percent.
BLS says the D.C. metro area had a nonfarm payroll 3.25 million in May, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.
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