Department of Numbers

California-Lexington Park, Maryland Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for California fell 0.6 percentage points in January 2021 to 4.2%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 2.2 percentage points lower than the Maryland rate. The unemployment rate in California peaked in April 2020 at 7.3% and is now 3.1 percentage points lower. You can also compare California unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.3% -0.4 +2.8
Maryland 6.4% -0.4 +3.0
California 4.2% -0.6 +1.1
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with January 2021 data as February metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: California, Maryland, National

California, Maryland monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

California, Maryland Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in California peaked in April 2020 at 4,037. There are now 1,668 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area.

Unemployed Persons January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
California 2,369 -197 +585

Number of Unemployed Persons

California, Maryland Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Maryland
Unemployment Rate		 California
Unemployment Rate		 California
Unemployed
March
2021		 6.0% — — —
February
2021		 6.2% 6.2% — —
January
2021		 6.3% 6.4% 4.2% 2,369
December
2020		 6.7% 6.8% 4.8% 2,566
November
2020		 6.7% 6.8% 4.8% 2,552
October
2020		 6.9% 6.8% 5.3% 2,803
September
2020		 7.8% 7.0% 5.4% 2,796
August
2020		 8.4% 8.6% 5.1% 2,810
July
2020		 10.2% 8.7% 5.7% 3,109
June
2020		 11.1% 8.6% 5.7% 3,132
May
2020		 13.3% 9.0% 6.9% 3,714
April
2020		 14.8% 9.0% 7.3% 4,037

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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