Arlington’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly in new data, but tied for lowest in the commonwealth.
With 149,231 county residents in the civilian workforce and 3,188 looking for jobs, the resulting unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for November, according to figures reported Dec. 29 by the Virginia Employment Commission.
That was up from 2 percent in October but on par with the rate of 2.1 percent recorded a year before.
Arlington’s results were similar to those across Northern Virginia, where unemployment rates edged up slightly from October to November – from 2.2 percent to 2.3 percent in Falls Church; 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent in Alexandria; 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent in Loudoun County; 2.4 percent to 2.5 percent in Fairfax County; and 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent in Prince William County.
The overall Northern Virginia jobless rate in November was 2.6 percent, representing just under 1.6 million residents in the workforce and about 42,000 seeking jobs. That’s down from 2.4 percent both a month before and a year ago.
Among Virginia’s 133 cities and counties, Arlington and Madison counties tied for the lowest jobless rate, at 2.1 percent, followed by Grayson County (2.2%) and Falls Church (2.3%). Five jurisdictions were tied at 2.4 percent.
On the other side of the coin, Petersburg recorded the highest jobless rate in the commonwealth for November, at 7 percent, followed by Martinsville (5.4%), Hopewell (5.3%) and Emporia (5%).
For the month, Virginia’s jobless rate was 3 percent, up from 2.8 percent a month before. The national jobless rate of 3.4 percent was unchanged from a month previously.