Unemployment days below 2% are over for now in Arlington, as the county’s (and region’s) unemployment rate rose in the first report of 2022.
With 148,168 county residents employed in the civilian workforce and 3,879 seeking work, Arlington’s unadjusted unemployment rate of 2.6% was up from 1.9% the previous month, according to figures released on March 18 by the Virginia Employment Commission.
It is not uncommon for such large bumps to increase after the holiday season. And the county’s 3% unemployment rate was well below the 3.8% figure in January 2021, when the region was still emerging from the initial outbreak of the pandemic.
Arlington’s month-over-month increase was mirrored in the rest of Northern Virginia, where rates rose from 1.8% to 2.4% in Falls Church; 2.2% to 2.7% in Loudoun County; 2.3% to 2.9% in Fairfax County; from 2.3% to 3% in Alexandria; and 2.7% to 3.3% in Prince William County.
For Northern Virginia as a whole, the 3% unemployment rate for January was up from 2.3% in December and accounted for just under 1.6 million civilian workers and about 48,400 people in the workforce. look for a job.
The state’s unemployment rate and national figure increased from December to January, from 2.7% to 3.4% statewide and from 3.7% to 4.4% at national scale.
Among Virginia’s 133 cities and counties, the lowest unemployment rates for the month were in Madison County at 2.3%; Church of the Falls; Arlington; and, at 2.7% each, Loudoun, Greene, Hanover, New Kent, Frederick and Rockingham counties.
At the other end of the spectrum, the highest unemployment rates for the month were reported in the cities of Petersburg (9%), Emporia (7.4%), Martinsville (6.5%) and Hopewell (6 .4%).
