City With Biggest Unemployment Rate Drop is … Atlantic City?
Yes, there were four casino closures in the past two years. Yes, it had the highest foreclosure rate in the country for four consecutive months. Yes, the Revel casino sits vacant — looking like a weird post-apocalyptic fortress.
But alas, there’s good economic news out of Atlantic City. It had the largest drop in unemployment rate of any U.S. metropolitan city, according to Reuters. Measured year-over-year from October to October, Atlantic City’s jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent — 2.5 percentage points lower than last year.
What happened is no mystery — approximately 8,000 workers lost their jobs when the Revel, Showboat, Trump Plaza and Atlantic Club shut their doors.
“Nearby restaurants have complained that business is slower as some former casino employees, still without work, cut back on spending,” said Reuters.
Still, 7.7 percent is really not terrible given the city’s tough luck this year. Heck, Philadelphia has a 6.8 percent unemployment rate. (The national unemployment rate is 5 percent).
Perhaps the bleeding is finally stopping for Atlantic City, which couldn’t come soon enough. One in every 257 Atlantic City housing units had a foreclosure filing in October, according to a report from RealtyTrac. That’s more than four times the national average. It was enough to give New Jersey the second-highest foreclosure rate of any state, with one in every 471 housing units having a foreclosure filing.
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