West Virginia October unemployment rate was lowest in history
(The Center Square) – West Virginia recorded a 4.3% seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October this year and a 2.9% unadjusted unemployment rate, both of which are the lowest in state history.
“It’s amazing what’s going on in West Virginia,” Gov. Jim Justice said in a statement. “We’ve made West Virginia more business-friendly, we’ve stood up for our energy sector and been proud of who we are, we made historic investments in tourism and broadband, and we revamped our whole transportation system.”
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has gone down for 18 straight months, which reflects the state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic restrictions. Last month’s rate was slightly better than the national average, which went down to 4.6%. This is the eighth straight month that West Virginia’s unemployment rate was better than the national average.
Total employment grew by 1,200 people from September into October and the total number of unemployed people dropped by 2,400. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1,000, which reflected a 900-worker increase in goods-producing businesses and a 100-worker increase in the service industry.
“We’ve all pulled the rope together through this terrible pandemic and we really made the right decisions; pushed the right buttons,” Justice said. “We’re killing it right now, but there’s still plenty to do and we want to just keep at it.”
Most of the goods-producing employment increase was in construction, which had 700 more workers than the previous month. There were also 200 more manufacturing workers. Jobs in mining and logging remained the same.
There were substantial gains in leisure and hospitality jobs and in trade, transportation and utility jobs, which both saw an increase of 1,400 workers each. However, a number of service industry jobs saw declines: 1,300 in government, 600 in financial activities, 600 in education and health services and 100 in professional and business services. Other services remained the same.
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
