The Virginia economy is still holding strong, judging from the report from the office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Friday that the unemployment rate held steady at 2.7 percent for the month of July.
“Virginia’s payroll employment gains and steady unemployment rate this month reflect the positive momentum and resilience of our state’s economy. This is a testament to the effectiveness of our focus on job creation and business-friendliness in Virginia as nationwide pressures from inflation and elevated interest rates continue impacting families in the Commonwealth and across the country,” Youngkin said in a statement released by his office.
ICYMI
Reality check there: Virginia’s economy is insulated by our proximity to Washington, D.C., and the prevalence of federal government jobs, and federal contractors.
Just under 30 percent of our labor force is either directly employed by the federal government, or works for a federal contractor.
The average federal government job impact for the 50 states is 19 percent.
You can see our artificial boost there.
As long as the federal workforce doesn’t contract, and that’s really only under threat if the TrumpWorld-directed Project 2025 were to come into play, Virginia is going to be OK.
Youngkin is pretending that the Project 2025 plan isn’t a factor in the 2024 election, telling a press gaggle this week that the 900-page plan for a second Trump administration drawn up by former Trump administration officials and campaign advisors is “all speculative.”
What’s not speculative is the impact of the federal government on our jobs numbers: the national unemployment rate for the month of July is 4.3 percent.
So much for the “effectiveness of focus on job creation and business-friendliness in Virginia.”
The thing we have going for us is location, location, location.
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Chris Graham
