Year-over-year employment within Fairfax County improved in the third quarter of 2021, according to new federal data, but lagged the overall national rebound.
There were a total of 608,100 jobs recorded in Fairfax for September 2021 by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported Feb. 23. That’s up 2.6 percent from a year before.
(Figures represents the location of an individual’s employment, no matter where he or she may live.)
Fairfax’s rate of employment increase was below the 4.4-percent increase recorded nationally (to 144.9 million). Fairfax ranked 222nd out of the nation’s 343 largest counties in rate of population growth.
A total of 332 of the 343 largest U.S. counties posted year-over-year increases in employment. The largest increase came in Honolulu, up 13.3 percent. At the other end of the spectrum was Jefferson Parish, La., where employment was down 3.2 percent.
Among the nation’s 10 largest counties, employment was up across the board, with the highest increase reported in Miami-Dade County, Fla., up 7.6 percent due to increasing leisure employment.
Among other areas in the commonwealth:
• Employment in Henrico County was 181,300, up 1.4 percent.
• Employment in Arlington was 172,600, up 0.4 percent.
• Employment in Loudoun County was 172,600, up 4.5 percent.
• Employment in Virginia Beach was 171,400, up 2.1 percent.
• Employment in Richmond was 151,100, up 3.4 percent.
• Employment in Norfolk was 133,900, up 2 percent.
• Employment in Prince William County was 130,500, up 4.5 percent.
• Employment in Newport News was 99,400, up 0.2 percent.
• Employment in Chesapeake was 99,200, up 0.2 percent.
• Employment in Alexandria was 84,200, up 1.8 percent.
(For the purposes of the ranking, Virginia cities are included because, unlike the other 49 states, cities are independent of the counties that surround them.)
The 343 largest national counties (those with employment of 75,000 or more) ranked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics encompass 72.3 percent of all U.S. workers.
Nationally, the average weekly wage for the third quarter of 2021 was $1,251, up 6.7 percent from a year before, according to the agency. In Fairfax, the average weekly wage of $1,846 was up 4.4 percent.