Virginia unemployment rate unchanged at 3.3 percent in January

Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.3 percent in January, 1.5 percentage points below the rate from a year ago.

According to household survey data in January, the labor force increased by 16,461 to 4,277,757, as the number of unemployed residents decreased by 1,892 to 139,261. The number of employed residents rose by 18,353 to 4,138,496.

Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national rate, which rose from 3.9 to 4.0 percent.

The Commonwealth’s labor force participation rate increased slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 62.9 percent in January. The labor force participation rate measures the proportion of the civilian population age 16 and older that is employed or actively looking for work.

Virginia nonagricultural wage and salary employment, from the monthly establishment survey, fell by 4,900 jobs in January to 3,989,500. December’s preliminary estimate was revised upwards by 6,300, adding to that month’s job gain.

In January, private sector employment decreased by 600 jobs to 3,280,300 while public sector payrolls decreased by 4,300 jobs to 709,200. Much of the decrease within that sector occurred in state government (-4,000 jobs), but employment also fell in local government (-500 jobs). Federal government employment rose by 200 jobs.

Employment rose in four of eleven major industry sectors, declined in six and was unchanged in one. The largest job gain during January occurred in professional and business services with an increase of 1,900 jobs to 785,500. The second largest increase occurred in education and health services (+1,300 jobs) to 540,600.

The last two industries with job gains were trade and transportation (+1,100 jobs) to 663,100 and information (+100 jobs) to 67,700. The largest job loss during January occurred in government (-4,300 jobs) to 709,200. Within government, state government and local government lost 4,000 and 500 jobs respectively, while federal government gained 200 jobs. The second largest job loss occurred in finance which lost 2,000 jobs down to 208,000.

Other losses occurred in leisure and hospitality services (-1,600 jobs) to 383,700, construction (-900 jobs) to 203,600, miscellaneous services (-300 jobs) to 186,200, and manufacturing (-200 jobs) to 234,800. Mining was the only industry that remained unchanged in January at 7,100 jobs.