Virginia’s Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate Decreased to 8.0 Percent in July

RICHMOND — Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points in July to 8.0 percent, which is 5.3 percentage points above the rate from a year ago. According to household survey data in July, the labor force expanded by 7,974, or 0.2 percent, to 4,322,234, as the number of unemployed residents fell by 5,489. The number of employed residents increased by 13,463 to 3,978,099. Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national rate, which fell to 10.2 percent.

Virginia’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment, from the monthly establishment survey, rose by 9,300 jobs in July to 3,775,000. June’s preliminary estimates were revised upward 15,200, adding to that month’s job gains. In July, private sector employment increased by 18,300 jobs to 3,102,500, while public sector payrolls decreased by 9,000 jobs to 672,500.

From June 2020 to July 2020, seasonally adjusted employment increased in five major industry divisions and decreased in six. The largest job gains during July occurred in leisure and hospitality with an increase of 23,800 jobs to 317,800. The second largest job gain was in trade and transportation which increased 3,900 jobs to 632,500. Other employment gains included: miscellaneous services, (+3,800 jobs) to 189,200, education and health services (+2,900 jobs) to 516,600, and construction (+1,100 jobs) to 208,100.

The largest job loss occurred in Government employment which dropped by 9,000 jobs in July. For total government, a gain occurred in federal government (+1,800 jobs) and losses in state government (-1,000 jobs) and local government (-9,800 jobs). Other employment losses included: manufacturing (-6,700 jobs) to 228,000, professional and business services (-6,400 jobs) to 731,500, finance (-2,500 jobs) to 206,700, information (-1,500 jobs) to 65,000, and mining, (-100 jobs) to 7,100.

Nonfarm Employment in Virginia*
Seasonally Adjusted

*Current month’s estimates are preliminary.

From July 2019 to July 2020, the VEC estimates that establishments in Virginia lost 284,100 jobs, or 7.0 percent. In July, the private sector recorded an over-the-year loss of 225,000 jobs, while employment in the public sector lost 59,100 jobs.

Compared to a year ago, on a seasonally adjusted basis, ten out of eleven major industry divisions experienced employment declines, with one experiencing a gain. The only job gain occurred in construction, up 4,600 jobs (+2.3%).

The largest over-the-year job loss occurred in leisure and hospitality, down 91,300 jobs (-22.3%). The next largest job loss occurred in Government, down 59,100 jobs (-8.1%). Within government, federal experienced a small increase in employment (+2,300 jobs) while there were decreases in state government employment (-15,300 jobs) and local government employment (-46,100 jobs). Education and health services experienced the third largest over-the-year job loss of 38,100 jobs (-6.9%). Other losses were in professional and business services, down 36,900 jobs (-4.8%), trade and transportation, down 25,700 jobs (-3.9%), manufacturing, down 15,000 jobs (-6.2%); miscellaneous services, down 13,200 jobs (-6.5%); finance, down 5,600 jobs (-2.6%); information, down 3,200 jobs (-4.7%); and mining, down 600 jobs (-7.8%).

Total Nonfarm Employment in Virginia*

*Current month’s estimates are preliminary.

Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment data is produced for ten metropolitan areas. In July, nine metropolitan areas experienced over-the-month job gains, while Northern Virginia (-11,700 jobs) experienced the only job losses. The largest absolute job gain occurred in Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (+9,000 jobs). The second largest absolute job gain occurred in Richmond (+5,500 jobs). The third largest absolute job gain was in Roanoke (+3,200 jobs). Other gains include Lynchburg (+2,000 jobs), Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford (+1,900 jobs) Staunton-Waynesboro (+1,500 jobs), Harrisonburg (+800 jobs), Charlottesville and Winchester both with (+700 jobs).

Over the year, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment decreased in nine of the ten metropolitan areas, with the only gain being in Staunton-Waynesboro up 1,000 jobs (+1.9%). The Northern Virginia metropolitan area experienced the largest absolute job loss, down 121,300 jobs (-8.0%). Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News ranked second, with a loss of 49,400 jobs (-6.2%). Richmond ranked third with a decline of 48,600 jobs (-7.1%).

Not Seasonally Adjusted Data

Virginia’s unadjusted unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points in July to 8.0 percent, and was up 5.0 percentage points from a year ago. Compared to a year ago, the number of unemployed increased by 220,047, household employment decreased by 310,963, and the labor force decreased by 90,916. Virginia’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national unadjusted rate, which fell by 0.7 percentage points in July to 10.5 percent.

Compared to last month, the July unadjusted workweek for Virginia’s 153,200 manufacturing production workers increased by 0.1 hours to 40.1 hours. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production workers increased by $.29 to $20.19 in July. Average weekly earnings rose $13.62 to $809.62.

Technical note: Estimates of unemployment and industry employment levels are obtained from two separate monthly surveys. Resident employment and unemployment data are mainly derived from the Virginia portion of the national Current Population Survey (CPS), a household survey conducted each month by the U.S. Census Bureau under contract with BLS, which provides input to the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program (often referred to as the “household” survey). Industry employment data is mainly derived from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, a monthly survey of approximately 18,000 Virginia businesses conducted by BLS, which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data broken down by industry for the nation as a whole, all states and most major metropolitan areas (often referred to as the “establishment” survey). Both industry and household estimates are revised each month based on additional information from updated survey reports compiled by the BLS. For national figures and information on how COVID-19 affected collection of the BLS establishment and household surveys in July, refer to the BLS July 2020 Employment Situation press release for details.

The statistical reference week for the household survey this month was the week of July 12-18, 2020.

Files detailing July’s unemployment numbers are available below: