Portland Marks A Milestone And Gets A Millstone

Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1

million or more, Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., and Riverside-San

Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., reported the highest unemployment rates

in March, 14.0 and 12.9 percent, respectively.  Nine additional

large areas posted rates of 10.0 percent or more.  The large areas

with the lowest jobless rates in March were New Orleans-Metairie-

Kenner, La., 5.3 percent, and Oklahoma City, Okla., 5.6 percent.

All 49 large areas registered over-the-year unemployment rate in-

creases of at least 1.9 percentage points.  Portland-Vancouver-

Beaverton, Ore.-Wash., had the largest jobless rate increase from

a year earlier (+6.5 percentage points), followed by Charlotte-

Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. (+6.2 points) and Detroit-Warren-

Livonia, Mich. (+6.0 points).  Seventeen additional large areas

recorded over-the-year unemployment rate increases of 4.0 percent-

age points or more.