Northern Virginia slightly outperformed the commonwealth as a whole in its jobs rebound for the 12-month period ending in January, according to new figures from the Virginia Employment Commission.
The local region picked up 36,600 jobs over the year, representing 41 percent of the 89,800 jobs that were added to the statewide economy during that period, according to data released on March 18.
In terms of total jobs (1,464,000 out of 3,899,700), Northern Virginia comprises 38 percent of the statewide employment total.
The 10 metropolitan areas of the commonwealth each posted year-over-year jobs increases, ranging from 1.2 percent in Hampton Roads to 5.1 percent in Blacksburg. In terms of raw numbers, Northern Virginia was followed by Richmond (up 9,700 jobs) and Hampton Roads (up 9,400) for the period.
(All figures are non-seasonally-adjusted data.)
Virginia’s total nonfarm employment dropped 4,900 (0.1 percent) from December to January, but the 89,800 yearly increase was up 2.3 percent. Over the year, the private sector saw jobs totals up 2.6 percent to 3,196,900, while public-sector jobs rose 0.9 percent to 702,800.
The biggest employment rebound came in the leisure/hospitality sector, where January’s job total of 337,500, while down from December’s, was up 13.7 percent year-over-year.