Jobless Rates Rise In All US Metro Areas In Feb.

JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates rose in all of the nation's largest metropolitan areas for the second straight month in February.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday all 372 metropolitan areas tracked saw their jobless rates rise in February from a year earlier. Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen and North Carolina's Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, both hammered by manufacturing layoffs, registered the biggest annual increases.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will climb to 8.5 percent in March. The government releases that report on Friday. It will probably hit 10 percent by year-end even if the recession were to end later this year, they said.

Eklhart-Goshen's jobless rate soared to 18 percent in February, up 12.5 percentage points. The area has been battered by layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry. RV makers Monaco Coach Corp., Keystone RV Co. and Pilgrim International have cut hundreds of jobs.

The jobless rate in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton jumped to 15.7 percent, a 9.3 percentage point increase in the area located about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte. About one-third of all jobs in Hickory are at manufacturing plants, said Scott Millar, director of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp., which recruits new businesses.