Virginia’s September unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.6%, representing a 1 percentage point decline below last year’s rate and remains below the national unemployment rate of 3.5 percent. The number of unemployed residents decreased to 113,220 which represents the fewest number since June of 2001. The Commonwealth’s labor force participation rate, which measures the proportion of the civilian population age 16 and older that is employed or actively looking for work is at 63.6%.