Jobless rates rise in US metro areas

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unemployment rates rose in all the largest U.S. metropolitan areas for the fifth straight month in May.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that jobless rates in May rose from a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan area it tracks.

The unemployment rate in Kokomo, Ind., jumped to 18.8 percent, up 11.7 percentage points from a year ago, the largest increase of all metro areas. The second-highest increase occurred in Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen, where the rate rose to 17.5 percent. That's up 11.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Both parts of Indiana have been slammed by layoffs in transportation equipment manufacturing.

The other metro areas posting large gains were: Bend, Ore., where the jobless rate rose to 15.2 percent, an increase of 8.8 percentage points; and North Carolina's Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton saw its unemployment rate rise to 15.4 percent, a gain of 8.5 percentage points.

A common thread running through most of the regions that have been hard hit is the loss of manufacturing jobs. The collapse of the housing market has especially hurt jobs at factories that produce building materials and household goods, such as carpets, flooring, appliances and furniture. In addition, the global recession has cut into demand from customers both at home and abroad for a wide range of goods.

El Centro, Calif., again posted the highest unemployment rate in the country — 26.8 percent. Unemployment there is notoriously high because of many seasonal farm workers without jobs. Following behind were: Yuma, Ariz., with a jobless rate of 23.3 percent; and Kokomo at 18.8 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate climbed to a quarter-century high of 9.4 percent in May. Many economists predict it will rose to 9.6 percent in June. The government releases the new national employment report on Thursday.

On the metro front, the news wasn't much better when comparing jobless rates in May to April. The figures aren't seasonally adjusted, so making monthly comparisons can be more volatile.

The unemployment rates rose in 46 of the largest 49 metro areas. Two of the rates showed no change — in Denver and Minneapolis. But only one — in Buffalo-Niagara Falls — showed a decline, dipping to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent.