Fauquier’s unemployment rate increased slightly in December but remained among the lowest in Virginia.

The county had 1,767 jobless residents among a workforce of 38,946, the Virginia Employment Commission reported.

Fauquier’s employment rate stood at 4.5 percent. It had fallen to 4.3 percent in November.

In December 2010, VEC put the county’s jobless rate at 5 percent.

Fauquier in December 2011 tied Clarke County for the state’s fourth-lowest rate. Arlington had the lowest jobless rate at 3.6 percent, followed by Fairfax and Loudoun counties, tied at 4.2 percent.

Page County, just west of the Blue Ridge on Route 211, had the state’s fourth highest unemployment rate: 12.1 percent. Only the cities of Martinsville (16.7 percent), Williamsburg (15.2 percent) and Emporia (12.3 percent) fared worse.

Prince William stood at 6.3 percent and Culpeper at 5.1 percent.

Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2 percent, following decreases the previous two months, and was 0.4 percentage point below the year-ago December rate of 6.6 percent.

Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues below the national rate, which fell 0.2 percentage point in December to 8.5 percent. Click here for VEC's press release on the latest statistics.

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