Virginia’s jobless rate shows no change

Published May 20, 2017 by Robert Powell, III

Virginia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in April at 3.8 percent.

The labor force, however, expanded for the 13th consecutive month to 4.3 million, the Virginia Employment Commission reported on Friday.

The VEC unemployment numbers are seasonally adjusted, meaning they take into account seasonal fluctuations in the labor market.

April’s 3.8 percent jobless rate was two-tenths of a percentage point lower than the rate seen 12 months before. Virginia’s April rate also was lower than the national rate of 4.4 percent.

Virginia tied Minnesota and Montana in having the 17th lowest unemployment rate in the country in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Colorado had the lowest jobless rate for the month, 2.3 percent.

Virginia’s nonfarm employment for April was unchanged at 3.96 million jobs.

Employment rose in six major industry sectors in April and fell in five others. The biggest gain occurred in professional and business services, up 4,100 jobs to 734,700.

The largest declines took place in trade and transportation and leisure and hospitality sectors, down 3,000 jobs each. Trade and transportation employment totaled 663,100 jobs while leisure and hospitality had 400,200 positions.