WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate in about three-quarters of the nation’s largest metro areas, including Denver, rose last month as nearly 1 million teenagers entered the workforce looking for summer jobs.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that the unemployment rate rose in 291 of 374 areas in June from May. It fell in 55 areas and was flat in 28. That reverses the trend of the previous three months, when joblessness fell in most metro areas.
In metro Denver, the unemployment rate rose to 8.4 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May and 8.7 percent a year earlier.
The report does not adjust the figures to take into account seasonal trends, such as high school or college students looking for work during the summer. As a result, the figures tend to be volatile from month to month.
The economic recovery has spurred some hiring, with private employers adding an average of 100,000 jobs each month this year.
In Denver, the number of nonfarm jobs is down 1.6 percent the past year, compared with a 0.1 percent decline nationally.
