WASHINGTON 鈥斅燯nemployment rates were lower in August in 340 of the nation’s 388 metropolitan areas, though the Washington metro area’s unemployment rate was unchanged.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said the Washington region’s August unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, the same as July and down from 3.8 percent a year earlier.
Baltimore’s unemployment rate in August was 4.4 percent, down from 4.6 percent in July and down from 4.5 percent in August 2017.
Among cities with a population of a million or more, Minneapolis had the lowest August unemployment rate, at 2.5 percent in August. New Orleans had the highest, at 5.3 percent.
Among all metropolitan areas, the highest unemployment rate in August was in Yuma, Arizona, at 22 percent.
Ames, Iowa, retained its title in August as the metropolitan area with the lowest unemployment rate, at just 1.7 percent.
