Arlington retained the pole position, recording the lowest jobless rate among Virginia’s 133 cities and counties in the latest data.
With 159,040 county residents employed in the civilian workforce and 3,374 looking for jobs, Arlington’s unemployment rate stood at 2.1 percent in March, according to figures reported May 3 by the Virginia Employment Commission.
The jobless rate was unchanged from a month before, but up a tick from 2 percent a year ago.
Across Northern Virginia, month-over-month changes in jobless rates were minimal from February to March. Unemployment rates also were unchanged in Fairfax (2.4%) and Prince William (2.7%) counties, while declining from 2.3 percent to 2.2 percent in Alexandria, rising from 2.2 percent to 2.3 percent in Falls Church and increasing from 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent in Loudoun County.
In Northern Virginia as a whole, the jobless rate of 2.5 percent – unchanged from a month before and up from 2.4 percent a year ago – represented 1,702,524 employed in the civilian workforce and 43,474 looking for jobs.
Statewide, the jobless rate of 2.8 percent for March was down from 2.9 percent a month before but up from 2.7 percent a year ago. Nationally, the rate of 3.6 percent was down both from a month (3.9%) and year (3.8%) before.
In February, Arlington had shared the crown of lowest unemployment rate in Virginia with neighboring Falls Church, but in March held the title on its own.
Alexandria stood in second place for the month, followed by Falls Church and Madison County (2.3% each) and an 11-way tie at 2.4 percent.
On the other side of the coin: Northumberland County had the highest jobless rate in Virginia in March at 5.6 percent, followed by Petersburg (5.4%) and Lancaster County (5.3%).
A total of 59 of the commonwealth’s 133 cities and counties had unemployment rates lower than 3 percent, while only the three mentioned above had rates of 5 percent or higher.
March 2023 figures are preliminary and are subject to revision.
