DC-area unemployment decreases; Baltimore’s rate sees uptick

The D.C. area’s unemployment rate remains well below the national average, and it fell in July. Baltimore’s unemployment rate, however, edged up.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said the D.C. region’s unemployment rate last month was 3.3%, down from 3.4% in June and down from 3.5% a year ago.

Baltimore’s unemployment rate was 4.1% in July, up from 4% in June.

The national unemployment rate in July was unchanged at 3.7%.

Unemployment rates fell in 217 of the nation’s 389 metropolitan areas, rose in 41 and were unchanged in 31, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Among cities with a population of 1 million or more, Birmingham, Alabama; Boston, Massachusetts; and Denver, Colorado, all tied for the lowest unemployment rate in July at 2.7%.

Detroit had the highest big city unemployment rate, at 5.3%.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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