News broke this morning that national unemployment hit 7.6%, as the economy lost nearly 600,000 jobs in January.

The situation is significantly better in the Harrisonburg area, where the unemployment rate is 4.3%. According to this table provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, our area is ranked #33 out of 369 “Metropolitan Statistcal Areas.” This puts the Harrisonburg area in the top 10% for low unemployment! The only area in Virginia that has lower unemployment is Charlottesville, which is #29 at 4.2%. By the way, the area with the lowest unemployment in the nation is Morgantown, West Virginia (2.7%), and the highest is El Centro, California (22.6%).