The unemployment rate in the D.C. metro region in September fell to a pandemic-era low of 4.2%, down from 5.0% in August.
A year earlier, the D.C. metro unemployment rate was 6.9%.
Job growth in the D.C. metro is trailing many other big cities.
The civilian labor force has added just shy of 25,000 jobs from Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2021, for a job growth rate of just under 0.8%. The metro region’s civilian labor force currently totals about 3.34 million.
The largest year-over-year job gains have been in Los Angeles (364,100 jobs), New York (260,600) and Dallas (197,700).
With leisure and hospitality rebounding, the metro areas with the largest year-over-year percentage job gains are Honolulu, and Ocean City, New Jersey, at 12.7% and 11.2%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports lower September unemployment rates compared to 2020 in 386 of 389 metropolitan areas.
Logan, Utah and Lincoln, Nebraska had the lowest September unemployment rates, at 1.2% and 1.3%. El Centro, California had the highest, at 18.1%
Among cities with a population of 1 million or more, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City had the lowest September jobless rates, at 1.7% and 1.9%. Las Vegas and Los Angeles had the highest, at 7.4% each.
All unemployment data is not seasonally adjusted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics posts monthly metropolitan unemployment rates and civilian labor force changes online.
