Fewer jobs in Phila. region from a year ago

Total employment fell in the Philadelphia region in August from a year earlier - a period that saw job increases in most U.S. large metropolitan areas, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

The area encompassing Philadelphia, Camden, Wilmington, and parts of Maryland lost 11,200 jobs from August 2010. It was the third-largest decline, behind Atlanta, which lost 30,800 jobs, and the Kansas City region, where year-over-year employment fell 12,600.

Despite the number loss, the 9.1 percent August unemployment rate for the Philadelphia region was the same as a year earlier.

Unemployment rates were lower in August than a year earlier in 262 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 84 areas, and unchanged in 26, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The national unemployment rate in August was 9.1 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 9.5 percent a year earlier.

The largest over-the-year unemployment-rate decrease in August was registered in Farmington, N.M., a metro area of about 125,000, where the rate fell three percentage points, to 7.1 percent. - Reid Kanaley