Virginia has added 247,400 jobs since Glenn Youngkin took office in 2022, which we can thank the outgoing president, Joe Biden, and congressional Democrats for – see: Inflation Reduction Act.
That’s the good news.
The bad news: if the guy Youngkin endorsed for president, Donald Trump, gets his way, the 300,000 Virginia residents who work for the federal government, and the additional 375,000 who work for federal government contractors, could be losing their jobs in the next couple of years.
Youngkin, for his part, is clueless to all of this.
He had his office put out a press release on Tuesday touting the state’s 2.9 percent unemployment rate in October, with quotes from the governor taking credit for everything.
“With more than $85 billion in capital commitments from companies in Virginia or moving to Virginia since we started, job opportunities continue to abound in the Commonwealth,” Youngkin was quoted in the release.
“Virginia’s labor market remains strong, with continued growth in our labor force and a steadily low unemployment rate,” Youngkin said. “As more people move to Virginia than away from the other 49 states for the first time in a decade, fostering a business-friendly environment remains a key priority that attracts investment, drives job creation, and ensures that every Virginian has the opportunity to succeed.”
Well, not every Virginian. Youngkin has been steadily eroding the DEI initiatives of his predecessors, Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe, making it harder for Blacks, Latinos, women and LGBTQ+ Virginians to have the opportunity to succeed.
But, hey, White folks, and White males, in particular, it’s going to be Great Again.
Unless it’s White folks and White males who work in the federal government or with government contractors.
“The great thing about the Commonwealth of Virginia is that we have nearly 300,000 jobs that are unfilled,” Youngkin said last week, seeming to imply that government employees and employees of government contractors can just apply for the scores of entry-level retail, restaurant and other service-industry jobs in the market, and that would somehow make up the difference.
Looks like those White folks with government jobs are going to have to fend for themselves.
It’s OK. They tend to be liberals anyway.