Unemployment rate: Big improvement for West Virginia
January 29, 2022
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph) It would appear that more people are finally returning to work, at least in West Virginia. The Mountain State’s unemployment rate for December came in at 3.7 percent, marking the third month in a row that the state’s unemployment level has decreased.
While some businesses are still struggling to find employees to fill open vacancies, the lower unemployment numbers for West Virginia point to an improving situation, at least on the state level.
State officials, and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, applauded last week’s announcement.
“West Virginia is emerging stronger and these low unemployment numbers and strong job growth numbers show that,” Steve Roberts, president of the chamber, said. “The recent accomplishments will continue to push the Mountain State toward a brighter future.”
The chamber believes job growth in West Virginia is approaching pre-pandemic levels.
Gov. Jim Justice also is celebrating the welcomed news.
“We’ve broken the state record every month for a quarter of a year now,” Justice, a Republican, said. “This is no fluke. This proves, without a shadow of doubt, that the rocket ship ride I promised is real and it’s happening.”
Justice has more statistics to back up his claims.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has now decreased for 20 straight months. And for the 10th straight month, West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains better than the national unemployment rate.
Furthermore, the number of unemployed state residents decreased by 2,700 in December, while total employment grew 1,600 over the month, according to the governor’s office.
This is all great news for West Virginia, but there is still more work to be done.
A number of employers locally — right here in southern West Virginia — are still having a hard time finding enough employees to fill open positions. This problem will unfortunately continue to persist until more people are willing to return to the ranks of the gainfully employed.
Story by Bluefield Daily Telegraph