Unemployment trend positive in most cities

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The unemployment rate in 293 out of 372 U.S. cities was lower in November compared with the same month of 2012, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the unemployment rate was higher in 71 cities and unchanged in eight.

The national unemployment rate for the month was 7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, which prompted the U.S. Federal Reserve to initiate a tapering of its quantitative easing program.

Among individual cities, Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., experienced the highest unemployment rates among cities at 28.2 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively.

Bismarck, N.D., maintained its status as the metropolitan area with the lowest rate among U.S. cities with unemployment at 2.3 percent.

On each end of the spectrum, the unemployment rate was higher than 10 percent in 21 cities and lower than 5 percent in 73 cities.

Out of the 372 cities studied, 298 had year-over-year increases in employment in November.

The largest year-over-year improvement was posted by Atlantic City-Hammonton, N.J., where the unemployment rate has fallen by 4.7 percentage points to 10.2 percent, the bureau said.

The largest year-over-year gain was posted by Danville, Ill., where the unemployment rate rose by 2.3 percentage points to 11.7 percent.