In March, Arlington County, Va., reported the lowest unemployment rate in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) at 3.5 percent. Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, also in Virginia, tied with the second-lowest rate, 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the District of Columbia registered an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent, the highest among the 22 counties that make up the metropolitan area and the only one above the 8.4-percent U.S. rate. The jobless rate in Fredericksburg City, Va., was close to that for the nation at 8.3 percent. (See chart 1 and chart 2. The Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Twenty of the 22 counties had lower unemployment rates in March 2012 than in March 2011. (See table A.) Fredericksburg City, Va., recorded the largest decrease in the area, 1.2 percentage points, followed by Jefferson County, W.Va., with a decline of 1.1 points. The remaining 18 decreases were less than the national decline of 0.8 percentage point. The unemployment rate in Falls Church City, Va., was unchanged over the last year, while the rate in Fairfax City, Va., was the only one in the metropolitan area to increase over the last twelve months, up 0.6 percent.

Table A. Unemployment rates for the United States, the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its components, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Back data	Unemployment rates			Net change from
		Mar 2010	Mar 2011	Mar 2012 (1)	Mar 2010 to Mar 2012 (1)	Mar 2011 to Mar 2012 (1)
United States		10.2	9.2	8.4	-1.8	-0.8
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area		6.7	5.8	5.5	-1.2	-0.3
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Division		6.9	5.9	5.6	-1.3	-0.3
District of Columbia		10.3	10.1	9.9	-0.4	-0.2
Arlington County, Va.		4.9	3.9	3.5	-1.4	-0.4
Clarke County, Va.		6.5	4.9	4.4	-2.1	-0.5
Fairfax County, Va.		5.3	4.4	4.1	-1.2	-0.3
Fauquier County, Va.		6.4	5.1	4.7	-1.7	-0.4
Loudoun County, Va.		5.3	4.2	4.1	-1.2	-0.1
Prince William County, Va.		6.3	5.2	4.8	-1.5	-0.4
Spotsylvania County, Va.		6.3	5.5	4.9	-1.4	-0.6
Stafford County, Va.		6.2	5.3	4.6	-1.6	-0.7
Warren County, Va.		8.2	6.4	6.0	-2.2	-0.4
Alexandria City, Va.		5.6	4.7	4.5	-1.1	-0.2
Fairfax City, Va.		6.4	5.2	5.8	-0.6	0.6
Falls Church City, Va.		7.3	6.7	6.7	-0.6	0.0
Fredericksburg City, Va.		10.3	9.5	8.3	-2.0	-1.2
Manassas City, Va.		8.5	6.5	6.3	-2.2	-0.2
Manassas Park City, Va.		6.4	5.3	5.1	-1.3	-0.2
Calvert County, Md.		6.9	6.0	5.7	-1.2	-0.3
Charles County, Md.		6.9	6.0	5.9	-1.0	-0.1
Prince George's County, Md.		8.1	6.8	6.6	-1.5	-0.2
Jefferson County, W.Va.		7.0	6.2	5.1	-1.9	-1.1
Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md. Metropolitan Division		6.3	5.3	5.2	-1.1	-0.1
Frederick County, Md.		7.4	6.3	5.9	-1.5	-0.4
Montgomery County, Md.		6.1	5.1	5.0	-1.1	-0.1
Footnotes (1) Data for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area and its components are preliminary for the most recent month.

Unemployment rates in all 22 counties in the Washington metropolitan area were lower in March 2012 than two years earlier. Of the metropolitan area counties, 17 recorded declines less than the national decrease of 1.8 percentage points. The smallest two-year decline in the area, 0.4 point, was recorded in the District of Columbia, while the largest decrease, 2.2 points, was recorded in both Manassas City and Warren County in Virginia.

March 2012 unemployment rates for the two metropolitan divisions in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area were 5.2 percent (Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md.) and 5.6 percent (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.). The rates for both divisions were close to last year’s levels.

Technical Note

This release presents unemployment rate data for states and counties from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, a federal-state cooperative endeavor. 

Definitions. The labor force and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those used for the official national estimates obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a sample survey of households that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The LAUS program measures employment and unemployment on a place-of-residence basis. The universe for each is the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over.  Employed persons are those who did any work at all for pay or profit in the reference week (the week including the 12th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm, plus those not working who had a job from which they were temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation. Unemployed persons are those who were not employed during the reference week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a job sometime in the 4-week period ending with the reference week, and were currently available for work; persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed.  The labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the labor force.

Method of estimation. Estimates for the substate areas in this release are prepared through indirect estimation procedures using a building-block approach. Employment estimates, which are based largely on “place of work” estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, are adjusted to refer to place of residence as used in the CPS. Unemployment estimates are aggregates of persons previously employed in industries covered by state unemployment insurance (UI) laws and entrants to the labor force data from the CPS. The substate estimates of employment and unemployment, which geographically exhaust the entire state, are adjusted proportionally to ensure that they add to the independently estimated state or balance-of-state totals. A detailed description of the estimation procedures is available from BLS upon request.

Annual revisions. Labor force and unemployment data for prior years reflect adjustments made at the end of each year. The adjusted estimates reflect updated population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, any revisions in the other data sources, and model reestimation. In most years, historical data for the most recent five years (both seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted) are revised near the beginning of each calendar year, prior to or coincident with the release of January estimates.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone:  (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral phone:  1-800-877-8339.

For personal assistance or further information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics data, as well as other Bureau data, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Information on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and other surveys and programs is available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/ro3/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren Counties, and Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park Cities in Virginia; Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Jefferson County in West Virginia.

• The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes the District of Columbia; Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren Counties, and Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park Cities in Virginia; Calvert, Charles, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; and Jefferson County in West Virginia.
• The Bethesda-Frederick-Rockville, Md. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Frederick and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.

 

Last Modified Date: May 14, 2012