Unemployment rises in nearly all metro areas

[Valin]

AP/Townhall:

3/19/11

Unemployment rose in nearly all of the 372 largest U.S. cities in January compared to the previous month, mostly because of seasonal changes such as the layoff of temporary retail employees hired for the holidays.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose in 351 metro areas, fell in only 16, and was unchanged in 5. That's worse than December, when the rate fell in 207 areas and increased in 122.

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"The areas that have had very severe housing market corrections have shown the least improvement," said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody's Analytics. That's particularly true for states such as California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada. Twelve of the 16 cities with unemployment rates above 15 percent in January were in California.

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