The ranks of unemployed Fairfax County residents ticked up nearly 8% month-over-month and 37% year-over-year in March, according to new state data, as Northern Virginia’s economy takes a hit from the federal government’s downsizing and collateral economic impacts.
A total of 20,836 Fairfax residents were counted as unemployed for March, according to figures reported this week by the Virginia Employment Commission. That compares to 19,315 in February and 15,171 in March 2024.
Regional leaders seem to agree that they must cooperate and coordinate in an effort to blunt impacts of Trump administration’s gutting of the federal workforce.
But that may not be so simple in a region where jurisdictions across the D.C. metropolitan area typically have competed, rather than collaborated, to achieve economic development goals.
Democrats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday (Tuesday) to send a letter to state leaders, asking for expanded unemployment coverage for federal workers having lost their jobs due to downsizing.
The maximum weekly Virginia unemployment-compensation rate of $378 is “one of the lowest in the country,” according to Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw.
Those employed in Fairfax County saw the 10th highest average weekly paycheck among the nation’s 370 most populous localities, according to new federal figures.
The average weekly wage for those who work in the county, no matter where they might live, was $2,143 in the second quarter of 2024, according to data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in November.
