The number of Fairfax residents counted as unemployed remains up 7.6% year over year and stands 39% higher than the last month of the Biden administration, according to new state data.
A total of 612,670 Fairfax County residents were employed in the civilian workforce and 21,239 were looking for jobs in May, according to figures reported July 1 by the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
In May 2025, a total of 19,741 county residents had been listed as unemployed. In December 2024, the final full month of Joe Biden’s presidency, the figure was 15,275.
May marked the eighth straight month that fewer than 620,000 Fairfax residents were employed in the civilian workforce, a reflection of cuts to the federal government and resulting ripple effect through Northern Virginia’s economy.
Prior to last August, the most recent time the total number of employed county residents was under 620,000 was in November 2022, as the region was still starting to recover from the pandemic.
The county’s total workforce, counting both employed and unemployed, was just under 634,000 in May. At the start of the second Trump administration, it had averaged about 650,000.
Some have suggested the decline represents an exodus of talent from Northern Virginia to areas where jobs are more plentiful and the cost of living is not so high. Some participants at a June 25 meeting of the Alexandria Arlington Workforce Development Council said that could be an oversimplification that doesn’t fully reflect reality.
“There are a lot of thought leaders pushing the gloom-and-doom thing,” said David Remick, executive director of the council.
Remick said he tries “to look at the glass half filled every now and then.”
Marisa Hayes, a research analyst at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), said it would take more time to analyze ongoing migration trends.
“We don’t know for sure if people are moving out,” she said. “It’s too early to say.”
Another not buying into the likelihood of a looming talent drain was Helen Ding, another research associate at NOVA who provided the statistical update at the council’s meeting.
“We’re doing all right,” Ding said of the current employment picture — perhaps not a rousing endorsement, but more optimistic than some others have been.
In the City of Fairfax, May’s unemployment rate was 3%, representing 13,893 employed in the civilian workforce and 437 looking for jobs.
Over the past year, the city’s jobless has ranged from 2.9% to 3.4%
Northern Virginia’s unemployment rate of 3.3% for the month was up from 3% a year before, representing 1,671,290 in the workforce and 57,480 seeking jobs.
In Virginia, the jobless rate of 3.6% was up from 3.3% a year before, representing 4,324,554 with civilian jobs and 195,363 in search of work.
In May, Virginia’s private sector workforce declined by 8,300, while government employment was up 300, according to state officials. The increase was due entirely to hiring by local governments, as employment with the state and federal governments was down.
The commonwealth’s labor force participation rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 63.3% in May. That rate measures the proportion of the civilian population age 16 and older employed or actively looking for work.
Nationally, year-over-year unemployment rates were lower in May in 191 of 387 metropolitan areas, higher in 164 and unchanged in 32, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A total of 47 areas had jobless rates of less than 3%, with seven areas reporting rates above 8%. May’s national unemployment rate was 4.1%, little changed from a year before.
Among all metro areas, Bismarck in North Dakota and Sioux Falls in South Dakota had the lowest jobless rates at 1.8% each. The highest rate was reported in El Centro, California, at 16.9%.
Of the 56 metro areas with populations of a million or more, Honolulu had the lowest rate at 2.4%, while Fresno reported the highest at 7.4%.
In terms of nonfarm employment, the D.C. region had the largest year-over-year numerical drop at 100,500 or 3%, according to federal data.
Figures are non seasonally adjusted. All May 2026 data is preliminary and subject to revision.
