The Washington region continues to see lower jobless rates as the pandemic begins to, if not completely ebb, be accepted as a fact of life.
With 3,376,198 counted in the civilian workforce and 101,347 looking for jobs, the metro area’s April unemployment rate stood at 3 percent, according to figures reported June 1 by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That’s down from 3.6 percent in March and from 4.9 percent a year before. Washington was one of 388 of the nation’s 389 metro areas to report lower year-over-year joblessness, and was one of 215 of those metro areas to post jobless rates lower than the national, non-seasonally-adjusted rate of 3.3 percent in April.
All told, 169 metro areas had unemployment of less than 3 percent, while two areas had double-digit joblessness.
The highest rate in the nation for the month was recorded in Yuma, Ariz., at 13.1 percent, with the lowest in two Minnesota metros – Manakato and Rochester, each at 1.3 percent – followed by Elkhart, Ind., at 1.4 percent.
Among the nation’s 51 million-resident-or-more metros, Minneapolis-St. Paul had the lowest joblessness, at 1.5 percent, while Cleveland had the highest, at 5.4 percent.
When it came to payroll employment, total jobs were up in 129 metro areas from a year before and essentially unchanged in the remaining 260.
In terms of jobs comeback from a year ago, New York City posted an increase of 375,400 for the largest numeric total, followed by Los Angeles (up 255,400) and Dallas (215,400). In percentage terms, the biggest comebacks were recorded in San Francisco (up 8.6%), Dallas (8%) and Miami (6.6%).
For April, Virginia’s jobless rate stood at 2.5 percent, representing 4,330,928 in the workforce and 109,569 looking for gigs. That rate was down from 2.7 percent a month before and 3.9 percent a year before.
Among Virginia’s metro areas outside the local area, Winchester (2.1%) posted the lowest jobless rate and Hampton Roads (3%) the highest.