Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 1.8 percentage points in August to 6.1 percent, as the number of unemployed residents declined by 74,233.
Virginia’s unemployment rate continues to be below the national rate, which fell to 8.4 percent in August.
The largest job gain during August occurred in government, with a gain of 40,800 jobs to 717,800. Much of the increase within that sector occurred in local government (+32,100 jobs), but employment also rose in federal government (+5,700 jobs) and state government (+3,000 jobs).
Other employment gains included trade and transportation (+10,500 jobs) to 643,800, leisure and hospitality (+6,300 jobs) to 324,900, professional and business services (+4,700 jobs) to 735,900, miscellaneous services (+3,300 jobs) to 193,500, construction (+1,400 jobs) to 208,400, education and health services (+1,300 jobs) to 518,500, and finance (+700 jobs) to 207,500.
Information was unchanged at 66,300 jobs over the month, while mining employment dropped by 100 jobs to 7,000, and manufacturing declined by 900 jobs to 226,600 in August.