With the seasonal warm weather, many Metropolitan areas are seeing a decrease in unemployment rates. This is mainly credited to an increased hiring rate in places where tourists have a higher likelihood of visiting. In over 350 of the 372 major U.S cities there has been a significant reduction in unemployment.
The overall national unemployment rate has also dropped. However, this drop in unemployment cannot be completely attributed to the economy's provision of jobs in the recent months. Being that people are only considered unemployed if they are actively searching for a job, those who are unemployed but have stopped searching are no longer placed in this category. No longer considered unemployed, these people have made it appear as though the unemployment rate has decreased. This accounts heavily for what looks like a large decline in unemployment.
Cases where job provision has truly impacted high unemployment rates can be seen in cities in places such as California. Metro areas that have a great influx of tourists during the warmers months have so far seen the biggest of unemployment drops because of new jobs created for the summer. Even places surrounding areas that are tourist hubs throughout the summer, such as Salinas, California, have seen the largest drop in unemployment. Salinas has seen a 3.1% drop in unemployment rates.
Following close behind Salinas is Ocean City, New Jersey, where the unemployment rate has declined by 2.3%.
Visalia, California along with other farming communities has also experienced declines in unemployment rates, because during the summer farmers in these areas increase staff to aid in harvesting.
Unemployment rates are progressively coming close to where they once were prior to the recession. Although unemployment rates still remain high, it has decreased drastically from being over 10 percent in 79 metro areas annually, to reaching that percentage in only 41 large cities.
