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Unemployment up
RICHMOND — Despite record employment, students looking for summer work pushed the state’s jobless rate up two-tenths of a percent in a record 2.8 million, a gain of 53,600 from May. But the labor force swelled by 61,700 to a record 2.95 million. The VEC said the increase in the labor force caused the number of unemployed to rise by 8,100 last month.
Virginia’s unemployment rate for May was 4.9 percent, which was a 19-month low. The national jobless rate last month was 7.2 percent.
The state’s metropolitan areas saw a mixed unemployment picture last month.
The jobless rate in the Lynchburg area dropped from 6.9 percent in May to 6.8 percent in June. In northern Virginia, the lowest unemployment area of the state, the rate was unchanged from May to June at 2.5 percent.
The influx of students increased joblessness in Tidewater, Richmond and Roanoke. In Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, the rate jumped from 4.6 percent to 5 percent; Richmond-Petersburg, from 4.4 percent to 4.6 percent; and Roanoke, from 4.5 percent to five percent.
Stafford County near Fredericksburg had the lowest rate among all localities in the state at 2.1 percent. Dickenson County in the southwest coalfields had the highest with 17.3 percent unemployment.
The number of Virginians drawing jobless benefits was 45,000 last month. It was unchanged from May and slightly above the 44,000 level of June 1985.
Because of an increase in prefilings for July vacation closings, new claims for jobless benefits rose to 5,200 per week in June from 4,200 per week in May, the VEC said.
The state’s unemployment rate was down from June one year ago when it was 5.7 percent. Of the major metropolitan areas, only the Lynchburg area saw an increase from June 1985.
94.1%