Economic vulnerability in US metropolitan areas.

This paper examines various aspects of recent employment vulnerability in US metropolitan areas. Based on the three decades preceding COVID-19, an estimate is made of the volatility (sensitivity) in each area's unemployment rate, relative to the national rate, and this reflects the area's employment vulnerability to external events. Using the Brechling-Thirlwall time-series approach, the monthly change in each area's unemployment rate is first compared to the monthly change in the nation's unemployment rate.