Valley Jobless Rates Continue To Decline
Posted: April 30, 2015
By VIC BRADSHAW
Daily News-Record
HARRISONBURG — The employment picture improved throughout most of the region in March, bucking the state trend, and showed greater gains when compared to March 2014.
According to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rockingham County posted the lowest unemployment rate in the region last month. The jobless rate in the county was 4.6 percent, down from 4.7 percent in February and 4.9 percent the previous March.
The unemployment rate in Harrisonburg fell 0.1 percentage point from February to 5.7 percent and a full point from 6.7 percent compared to March 2014.
Combined, the metro area’s unemployment rate was 5 percent. That was down from 5.1 percent in February and 5.6 percent the March before.
The biggest drop in unemployment in the Valley occurred in Page County. Its rate for March was 8.4 percent, far better than the 9.2 percent posted in February and 9.5 percent rate in March 2014.
Shenandoah County’s unemployment dropped to 4.9 percent, 0.1 percentage point below its February mark and 0.7 percentage point better than the previous March.
Augusta County was the only local jurisdiction where the rate remained stable from month-to-month at 4.8 percent. Its rate in March 2014 was 5 percent.
Local unemployment rates are not adjusted to account for seasonal changes, but state and national rates are.
Virginia’s rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent in March. That still is better than the 5.3 percent jobless rate recorded in March 2014.
The national rate held firm from February to March at 5.5 percent. That figure was far better than the 6.6 percent unemployment rate the same month a year before.
Contact Vic Bradshaw at 574-6279 or [email protected]
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