Martinsville had highest jobless rate in March

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The city of Martinsville had the highest jobless rate in Virginia in March.

The Virginia Employment Commission says the city’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 11.7 percent. That’s up from 11.6 in February but down from 14.7 percent a year ago.

The statewide rate for March was 5.3 percent.

Nationally, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for March was 6.8 percent. Rates dropped from last year in 333 metropolitan areas, increased in 30 and were flat in nine.

Arlington County and the city of Falls Church had Virginia’s lowest jobless rate with 3.5 percent in March.

The Danville region had the highest unemployment rate among Virginia’s metropolitan regions at 7.1 percent.

The Washington metropolitan region that includes Arlington and Alexandria had the lowest rate of 4.3 percent.