Danville area's jobless rate tops in Va.

Even though unemployment in the Danville metropolitan area dipped slightly from last month — 12.3 percent to 12.2 percent — the region still topped the state’s metropolitan areas in joblessness.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported Wednesday that 6,380 people in the Danville metro area, which includes the city and Pittsylvania County, were unemployed. This compared with 6,430 in February and 3,510 in 2008 when the unemployment rate was 6.9 percent.

“Danville was down (only) slightly, probably because of the weather and little improvement in outside work,” Bill Mezger, chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission, said Wednesday.

The unemployment rate for the city of Danville was 15.7 in March, 13.7 in February and 8.4 in March 2008.

In Pittsylvania County, the rate was 11.2 in March, 11.5 in February and 5.9 in March 2008.

One of the factors affecting the rate was Easter being in April, Mezger said.

“March didn’t have a holiday in the middle of the month, so we didn’t have the temporary furloughs that usually occur around holidays, and that may account for why the rate was just a little lower,” he said. “Easter will probably affect the April numbers, which should generally be lower because of tourism and retail sales.”

Virginia’s jobless rate remained steady in March, but it still is at the highest level in 17 years. The VEC reported Wednesday that the seasonably unadjusted rate for March was 7 percent, the same as in February. That number is more than double the 3.6 percent rate a year ago.

The seasonably adjusted rate was 6.8 percent in March, up from 6.6 percent a month earlier. That rate is two points below the national rate. The March jobless count of 288,900 showed a decline of 300 since February.

“Seasonal adjustments take into account a 10- to 12-year average and adjust out things that happen every year, such as students being out of school and construction work, but are not applied to metro areas,” Metzger said.

The commission said the general slump in construction and cool, wet weather prevented an increase in outside work.

Northern Virginia continued to claim the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 5.2 percent, with Arlington County the lowest jurisdiction at 4.4 percent.

The city of Martinsville had the highest unemployment rate for a city at 20.8 percent, with 1,344 people out of work. In February, the rate was 20.3 and in March 2008, it was 11.1.

Henry County had an unemployment rate in March of 14.8, up from 14.6 in February and 7.4 March of 2008.

The number of unemployed Virginians drawing unemployment benefits in March was 103,000, up from 98,000 in February and 46,000 in March 2008.