Unemployment rates fall in Virginia metro areas

Unemployment dropped in Virginia’s metro areas in November, with two regions reporting jobless rates of less than 4 percent.

Numbers reported Tuesday by the Virginia Employment Commission showed unemployment rate declines ranging from one-tenth to seven-tenths of a percentage point.

Charlottesville and Northern Virginia both saw unemployment drop to 3.7 percent in November, the lowest rate among the commonwealth’s 11 metro areas.

The Danville area continues to have the highest unemployment rate among metro areas, but its November figure dropped to 6.4 percent.

All of the metro jobless figures are not seasonally adjusted, meaning they do not account for seasonal fluctuations in the labor force.

In November, Virginia’s overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5 percent, down three-tenths of a percentage point from October. The comparable national jobless rate for November was 5.8 percent.

Without seasonal adjustments, Virginia’s November rate was 4.5 percent, down from 4.8 percent the month before. The national rate was 5.5 percent.

A breakdown on the metro areas shows:

Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford: 4.5 percent, down from 5.1 percent.
Bristol: 5.4 percent, down from 5.5 percent.
Charlottesville: 3.7 percent, down from 4.1 percent.
Danville: 6.4 percent, down from 6.7 percent.
Hampton Roads: 5 percent, down from 5.3 percent.
Harrisonburg: 4.1 percent, down from 4.8 percent.
Lynchburg: 5.1 percent, down from 5.5 percent.
Northern Virginia: 3.7 percent, down from 4 percent.
Richmond: 4.8 percent, down from 5.1 percent.
Roanoke: 4.7 percent, down from 5 percent.
Winchester: 4.1 percent, down from 4.4 percent.