Unemployment rates continue to fall across the region, state and throughout the country, improving across the board compared to the prior month and prior year.
Even through Martinsville’s unemployment rate is approaching record lows, the city is listed with the third-highest rate in the state.
Martinsville is at 4.9%, behind Emporia at 5.1% and Petersburg at 6.7%. Tied with Martinsville is Hopewell City, also at 4.9% and next is Buchanan County and Danville at 4.5%.
Numbers for April, published on June 1 by the Virginia Employment Commission, show Martinsville with an unemployment rate of 4.9%, down from 5.3% the month before and down from 7.7% last year.
The unemployment rate in Henry County was 2.8%, down from 3.1% the month before and 4.8% the prior year.
In Patrick County, the unemployment rate stood at 3.1% in April, down from 3.4% in March and down from 4.4% in the same period the year before.
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The Martinsville Micropolitan Statistical area includes Martinsville and Henry County and shows a combined unemployment rate of 3.2% in May, below the 3.5% rate in April and down from 5.3% last year.
Virginia’s unemployment rate dropped from 2.7% in March to 2.5% in April, down from 3.9% a year ago.
Nationally, the rate is at 3.3%, down from 3.8% the month prior and 5.7% last year.
The labor force in Henry County is 25,518 and 24,800 are employed, leaving 718 looking for work.
In Martinsville, the labor force is 5,912 with 5,624 employed, leaving 288 unemployed.
Patrick County has a labor force of 7,356 with 7,130 employed. There are 226 people without jobs in Patrick County.
In the region, Danville’s unemployment rate in April was 4.5%, Pittsylvania County was 2.6% and Franklin County is at 2.5%.
Out of 133 localities, Martinsville is even with Hopewell City at 130, Patrick County is at 106 and Henry County is at 88.
The lowest rate in the state for April goes to Falls Church City and Madison County who are tied at 1.8%, followed by Arlington and Highland counties who are tied at 1.9% and then Floyd, Frederick, Grayson, Greene, Loudoun, King George, Montgomery, Rockingham counties and Poquoson, all at 2%.
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment was unchanged in May at 3%, which is 1.1 percentage points below the rate from a year ago.
According to household survey data in May, the labor force increased by 17,175 to 4,347,177, as the number of unemployed residents decreased by 959 to 128,841. The number of employed residents rose by 18,134 to 4,218,336.
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national rate, which was unchanged at 3.6%.
The commonwealth’s labor force participation rate rose by 0.3 of a percentage point to 63.8% in May. The labor force participation rate measures the proportion of the civilian population age 16 and older that is employed or actively looking for work.
Total nonagricultural employment rose by 7,000 jobs in May, private sector employment increased by 1,600 jobs while public sector employment increased by 5,400. The largest job loss during May occurred in professional and business services (-2,700 jobs) and finance (-1,800 jobs).
Employment rose in six of eleven major industry sectors, was unchanged in miscellaneous services and declined in three. The largest job gain during May occurred in government employment, with an increase of 5,400 jobs. The second largest increase occurred in leisure and hospitality by 3,800 jobs. Other industries with over-the-month job gains were education and health services (2,500 jobs), manufacturing (1,300 jobs), information (100 jobs) and mining and logging (100 jobs).
The largest job loss during May occurred in professional and business services by 2,700 jobs, finance (-1,800 jobs), construction (-1,100 jobs), and trade, transportation and utilities with a decrease of 600 jobs.
From May 2021 to May 2022, the Virginia Employment Commission estimates that establishments in Virginia gained 125,000 jobs, an increase of 3.2%. In May, the private sector recorded an over-the-year gain of 110,300 jobs, while employment in the public sector gained 14,700 jobs.