VEC: Mid-Valley's jobless rate for non-farm employment rose slightly from May to June
STAUNTON — The number of filled non-farm related jobs in the mid-Shenandoah Valley dropped slightly between May and June, but the overall picture is better than this time last year, employment data released by the Virginia Employment Commission last week reveals.
VEC reported 50,900 filled positions in the Staunton-Waynesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area [MSA], which also includes Augusta County for the month of June. That is about 400 jobs less than May and represents a rise of 0.8%, VEC said.
However, when compared to June 2021, the number was 1,300 higher for June. That translates into a 2.6% increase for non-farm SAW jobs, according to the VEC data.
The SAW numbers reflect an apparent trend of non-farm job numbers along Virginia's western valleys. For example, the Harrisonburg MSA, which also covers Rockingham County, reported a 1.4% drop in filled jobs, from May's 70,700 to June's 69,700; however, the June 2022 number was 2.5% higher than 68,000 for June of last year.
The Roanoke and New River valleys also saw May-to-June job drops but higher numbers than the previous year. VEC recorded Roanoke at 1,200 less jobs from May (160,000) to June (158,800), but still up by 1%. The New River Valley, which includes the cities of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford; and the counties of Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski, recorded a May-to-June drop of 500 jobs but had a significant 8.2% increase in jobs over June 2021.
Statewide, June's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 2.8%, the VEC said. Most of the job-number increases were in the leisure and hospitality, education and health, and professional and business services.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, whose office announced the job data last Friday, called the news "a welcome return to pre-pandemic unemployment levels" in a statement.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "seasonally adjusted" unemployment rates remove any influences of seasons on changes in the workforce numbers. Those numbers can be affected by factors such as changes in weather patterns, holidays or school schedules.
"Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each year, their influence on statistical trends can be eliminated by seasonally adjusting the statistics from month to month," the BLS says on its website. "These seasonal adjustments make it easier to observe the cyclical, underlying trend, and other nonseasonal movements in the series."
For more information about Virginia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, click on the VEC site.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Staunton area sees slight increase in non-farm unemployment for June
