While it's likely only a temporary reprieve, unemployment claims in Virginia dropped during September to 4.2 percent.

Between August and last month, the number of workers without jobs was reduced by 19,700 people to 173,300.

The drop represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points, according to data released yesterday by the Virginia Employment Commission.

The start of the school year is a likely cause because of additional hiring and business activities associated with beginning a new term, said the commission's chief economist, William F. Mezger.

Local school systems are large employers in many localities and college enrollments are up, he said.

In the 16-county, three-city region surrounding Richmond, more employees work for the schools than in government operations, save for the in the cities of Petersburg and Richmond.

"Taking care of the needs of these large blocs of students and faculty members provides a lot of jobs in the local economy," Mezger said.

The last quarter of the year, with Christmas, typically has the lowest unemployment rate, while the first two months of the year have the highest.

Despite the decrease, these latest jobless numbers represent the highest September unemployment rate in Virginia since 1996. A year ago, the jobless rate was 3.0 percent in September.

The jobless rate in the Richmond area also dropped 0.4 percentage points, to 4.5 percent and the number of people filing for unemployment in September dropped by 3,100 people to 29,570.

Powhatan County came in with the lowest unemployment rate at 3.4 percent, while Petersburg topped the chart at 8.2 percent.

Statewide, Arlington County had the lowest unemployment rate, 2.7 percent. At 12.3 percent, Martinsville had the highest rate.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 6 percent, representing a drop of 0.1 percentage points.
Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or edooley@timesdispatch.com.