The metro areas with the lowest and highest unemployment In June 2019, Ames, Iowa, had one of the lowest unemployment in the United States at 2.3 percent of the workforce. At the other end of the scale was El Centro, California, with 18.6 percent of its workforce unemployed. In the depth of the 2008–2009 recession, the unemployment rate in Ames peaked at 5.7 percent. In El Centro, it peaked at 30.3 percent.

Use the information provided to estimate how much of the unemployment in Ames and El Centro in 2009 was cyclical and how much was natural. Explain your assumptions in arriving at your estimates.