DC metro unemployment matches pre-pandemic level

The Washington metro area’s unemployment rate fell to 3.0% in April, down from 3.6% in March, and matching the region’s unemployment rate in February 2020, just before the pandemic sent jobless rates soaring nationwide.

A year ago, the area’s unemployment rate was 4.9%. Its pandemic peak was 9.9% in April 2020. The region’s most recent low for unemployment was 2.7% in December 2019.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports almost all of the nation’s 389 metropolitan areas had lower unemployment rates in April than a year ago, with 169 metros having an unemployment rate of less than 3.0%.



Mankato and Rochester, both in Minnesota, tied for the lowest April unemployment rate at 1.3%. Yuma, Arizona, had the highest April unemployment rate, at 13.1%.

Among metros with a population of 1 million or more, Minneapolis had the lowest unemployment rate, at 1.5%; Cleveland had the highest, at 5.4%.

Metro unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics posts monthly metropolitan unemployment rates and civilian workforce changes online.

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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