Virginia unemployment slowly improves, some industries still suffering
(The Center Square) – Virginia’s unemployment rate continued to slowly improve in June, dropping 0.2 percentage points to 4.3%, but not all industries are seeing a growth in employment.
Similar to other states, the commonwealth’s unemployment rate skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the restrictions were eased, the rate improved significantly, but in recent months it has remained mostly stable, only slightly improving on a month-to-month basis.
The labor force total increased by 4,343 workers to a total of 4,234,360 people. The number of employed residents increased by 9,791 to 4,050,561 and the number of unemployed residents decreased by 5,448 people to 183,799.
Virginia’s unemployment continues to be lower than the national average – 4.3% compared to 5,8%.
An increased number of employees was not consistent across industry sectors for June. In six of the 11 major industry sectors, employment increased, but it decreased in five. Government work increased the most with 5,900 more jobs and trade and transportation increased the second most with 2,000 more jobs. Construction, information, mining and “other jobs” also increased.
Leisure and hospitality took the biggest hit in June, seeing a loss of 4,000 jobs. Some members of the business community have attributed this to the state’s decision to continue offering $300 per month in additional unemployment benefits. Some businesses in this sector have also pointed out that Gov. Ralph Northam’s Return to Earn grant program has not helped them because it only applies to employers who pay workers at least $15 per hour, which is less common in these industries.
Other sectors to see employment losses include professional and business services, which lost 1,300 jobs, finance, which lost 900 jobs, education and health services, which lost 700 jobs and manufacturing, which lost 600 jobs.
Virginia’s unemployment rate is about half of what it was at the same time last year, during one of the heights of the pandemic. Last June, unemployment was at 8.8%.
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