Martinsville has top jobless rate

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The city of Martinsville's jobless rate remained the highest in Virginia in July.

The Virginia Employment Commission says the city's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 20.6 percent, up slightly from June. That compares with the statewide average rate of 7.1 percent for the month.

But Martinsville's numbers are lower that the city's jobless rate of 21.5 percent for the same month last year.

Nationally, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for July was 9.7 percent.

Northern Virginia's Loudoun County held the state's lowest jobless rate for July with 4.8 percent.

The Danville region led the Virginia's metropolitan regions for the month with an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent. The Washington metropolitan region that includes Arlington and Alexandria had the lowest jobless rate for the month with 5.2 percent.