May sees DC region’s unemployment rate rise

The nation’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.7% in June, and a separate report showed a similar trend for the Washington, D.C. metro area for the month of May.

The D.C. area’s jobless rate was 3.1% in May — lower than the national unemployment rate, but up from 2.9% in April.

Baltimore’s May unemployment rate also rose, to 3.6% from 3.4% in April.

Both Washington and Baltimore metro unemployment rates are lower than a year ago.

Nationwide, unemployment rates fell in 254 cities, rose in 94 and were unchanged in 41.

Ames, Iowa, and Burlington, Vermont, tied for the lowest metro unemployment rate in May at 1.5%.

Among cities with a population of 1 million or more: Austin, San Francisco and San Jose all tied for the lowest May unemployment rate, at 2.2%.

Detroit has May’s highest metropolitan unemployment rate, at 4.3%.

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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