State Unemployment Rises Slightly in January
Virginia’s unemployment rate continued to rise in January, according to figures just released by the Virginia Employment Commission.
Across the state, the rate rose from 6.8 to 6.9 percent.
Lang: Year over year, from January 2009 to January 2010, employment fell by 72,300 jobs.
Ann Lang, Senior Economist with the Virginia Employment Commission says the higher jobless rates are caused by cutbacks in the retail and leisure and hospitality sectors after the holidays, and winter break school closings. And factory furloughs. There were some bright spots.
Lang: Two sectors actually gained jobs, and they were private, education and healthcare, and miscellaneous services.
Education and health services were up by 9,200 jobs from a year ago. Miscellaneous services, which include personal, non-profit, charity and religious, grew by 3,200 jobs. The number of unemployed workers in Virginia in January was 315,200.
Charles Fishburne, WCVE News.
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