By MELINDA WILLIAMS
melinda@southwesttimes.com
Pulaski County’s unemployment rate stayed steady with the state rate for the second month in a row in December, but also nudged upward.
According to latest figures released by Virginia Employment Commission, Pulaski and surrounding jurisdictions all recorded an upswing in joblessness from November to December with the exception of Wythe County. There, Wythe’s 7.1 percent November rate improved by a tenth of a point (7.0) in December.
Pulaski County and the Commonwealth each had 6.1 percent of its workforce jobless in December, compared to 5.7 percent a month earlier.
Locally, 1,125 of the county’s 18,358 workers were without jobs in December. That compares with 1,039 of a workforce of 18,161 in November.
Pulaski County joined the counties of Campbell and Isle of Wight, as well as the city of Virginia Beach, in having the 38th best unemployment rate out of 134 rankings in December.
Statewide, 257,033 of the 4.2 million civilian workforce was unemployed in December, compared to 242,771 in November.
Virginia had the 12th best rate in the nation during December.
Although Pulaski County’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly in December, it still showed an improvement over a year ago, when 7.6 percent of the workforce was without jobs.
All surrounding jurisdictions, as well as the state and nation, recorded improved rates over December 2010 figures.
Nationally, 12.7 million workers (8.3 percent) were unemployed in December out of a workforce of 153.4 million. A month earlier, 12.6 million (8.2 percent) of a 154 million workforce were jobless.
In December 2010 the national unemployment rate was 9.1 percent, while Virginia’s rate was 6.4 percent.
Unemployment rates in other surrounding jurisdictions generally showed small increases from November to December, with the following rates recorded:
• Bland County – 5.4 percent in December, 5.3 percent in November, and 6.5 percent in December 2010.
• Carroll County – 8.3 percent in December, 8.1 percent in November, and 10.1 percent in December 2010.
• Floyd County – 6.4 percent in December, 5.8 percent in November, and 7.6 percent in December 2010.
• Giles County – 7 percent in December, 5.9 percent in November, and 8 percent in December 2010.
• Montgomery County – 6 percent in December, 5.9 percent in November, and 6.7 percent in December 2010.
• Radford City – 7 percent in December, 6.8 percent in November, and 7.6 percent in December 2010.
The Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford metropolitan area increased from 6 percent in November to 6.3 percent in December. A year earlier, it was 7.1 percent.
Arlington County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate in December (3.6 percent), but it, too, saw a slight increase from November’s 3.3 percent. In December 2010, that county’s rate was 3.7 percent.
Martinsville City also continued to have the highest rate in the state. It’s November 15.6 rate climbed to 16.7 percent, but still remained below the December 2010 rate of 18.3 percent.
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