According to the Department of Labor, Bismarck, North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate for a metropolitan area (3.5%). El Centro, California has the highest rate (26.8%).
Detroit, MI continues to have the highest rate for cities with 1 million or more people (14.9%).
I have a pretty good sense of why Detroit's rate is high, but do any of our readers know much about Bismarck or El Centro?
El Centro and the entire Imperial Valley (the area east of San Diego) has one of the highest rates of immigration from south of the border of anywhere in the country, and recent immigrants are very likely to be unemployed. Unlike San Diego, there's not a lot of tourism, federal government employment, etc fueling this region. Historically I believe that there was some significant agriculture in southeast CA, but not anymore. The decline of real estate value in southern CA is probably not helping either.
Bismarck I know no details. My guess, though, is that there is a lot of federal and state employment here since it is a state capitol. Also probably a lot of health care and utility work that fuels a very large region.
Posted by: Zac Gochenour | July 01, 2009 at 02:57 PM
A few interesting articles:
1. Immigrants seeking money from home
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/01/payback-time/
2. Make purchases without cash (sorry GDP) http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/23/smallbusiness/fair_trade.fsb/index.htm
Posted by: Allan | July 01, 2009 at 05:44 PM
Are you serious?
Bismark is near the Canadian border.
El Centro is near the Mexican border.
I've counted over a 100 illegal aliens loitering for employment at a single Home Depot.
This isn't rocket science, folks.
Posted by: Greg Ransom | July 04, 2009 at 12:39 AM
Ground zero of the housing boom and 2nd mortgage financed consumer spending was California.
Much of the labor involved was immigrant labor.
Go to a Home Depot in some cities in SoCal and you'll see over 100 immigrants looking for work.
Talk to immigrants and they will know people who've gone back to Mexico because they can't find work here.
El centro is an immigrant community, tied to the SoCal labor market. Bismark is not.
Posted by: Greg Ransom | July 04, 2009 at 02:32 PM
Are illegal immigrants counted in the unemployment figures?
Posted by: Damian | October 02, 2009 at 01:50 AM