Roanoke Sun

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin revealed a substantial uptick in employment, indicating a notable increase of nearly 18,000 employed Virginians in July. This growth contributes to a cumulative rise of 219,452 employed individuals since January 2022, highlighting the state's economic progress under Youngkin's administration, according to a press release.

"I’m encouraged that our commonsense agenda is working,” Youngkin said in the release.

The labor force participation rate also rose by 0.1 percentage point, reaching 66.7% – its highest level since November 2012. This positive trend in the labor force aligns with Youngkin's focus on fostering business growth and enhancing affordability for Virginia's workforce.

Virginia witnessed a positive shift in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, dropping by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5% in July, according to the BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics ("LAUS"). This rate is notably 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous year, as the number of unemployed residents decreased by 8,956 to 116,224. Additionally, the number of employed residents expanded by 17,937, reaching a total of 4,481,008.

Virginia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.5% remains 1.0 percentage points below the national rate, which experienced a decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 3.5%. Secretary of Labor Bryan Slater commented on Virginia's healthy labor market, highlighting how their efforts to enhance the business climate and workforce opportunities have led to growth in employment and labor force participation, benefiting both job seekers and employers. Secretary of Commerce Caren Merrick expressed optimism about the ongoing downward trend in unemployment rates, which are approaching pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, BLS's Current Employment Statistics Survey ("CES") revealed that Virginia's CES employment surged by 1,400 to 4,147,100 in July, marking an overall increase of 64,400 since July 2022.

The CES survey utilizes business payroll records to track jobs covered by unemployment insurance, while the LAUS survey gathers data through household interviews to provide a comprehensive view of the labor force's employment and unemployment status. The CES approach counts all employees on an employer's payroll, while the household survey differentiates only between employed and unemployed individuals, excluding self-employed workers, business owners and those on unpaid leave or involved in labor disputes.