El Paso Has Third Most-Improved Unemployment Rate

More than three-fourths or 84 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas posted negative growth in living-wage jobs, five by double digits, during the first year of the pandemic, according to an analysis by the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP). LISEP recently released a comprehensive analysis of the True Rate of Unemployment by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a more in-depth version of its monthly True Rate of Unemployment report.

“Too many Americans remain functionally unemployed in all regions of the U.S., but some regions have done better, proving that recessions, like economic recoveries, are not created equal,” said Gene Ludwig, LISEP chairman. “If policymakers are to make decisions to facilitate an equitable recovery, it’s important for them to be aware of the disparities these data show. And these data are much more revealing about the economic picture of these local areas than headline economic data.”

For the purpose of this analysis, LISEP highlighted TRU’s sister metric: the TRU Out of the Population. This is defined as the percentage of the MSA’s total population (age 16 and older) who do not hold a full-time job, work part time but desire full time and do not earn a wage paying above the poverty level. The calculations are based on data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Richmond, VA, posted the most-improved TRU Out of the Population rate in the first year of the pandemic, improving by 7.4 percentage points. Tucson was the second-most improved MSA, with functional unemployment dropping 5.65 percent, followed by Virginia Beach-Norfolk with a 4.59 percent improvement, El Paso, TX improving by 2.7 percent and Tulsa with a 2.21 percent improvement in the living-wage job rate.