WASHINGTON — Unemployment rates fell or remained level in three-quarters of the 372 largest metropolitan areas in March, a sign that the economic recovery is widespread.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the jobless rate dropped in 69 percent of metro areas last month from February. It rose in 24 percent of large cities and remained the same in the rest.
That’s an improvement from February, when the unemployment rate decreased in 51 percent of metro areas and increased in one-third.
The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield metro area was among those that saw an increase in the unemployment rate, which rose to 8.5 percent in March from 8.4 percent in February.
Total nonfarm employment in the metro area was flat between February and March on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the government said this month, the most significant gain in three years.
Still, the growth wasn’t enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.
The metro unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted and can be volatile from month to month.
Denver Post staff writer Aldo Svaldi contributed to this report.
