Virginia unemployment rate up for seventh straight month, as MAGAs twiddle their thumbs

The unemployment rate in Virginia was up in July, the seventh straight month that we’ve had an increase – July, note, was the seventh month of the year.

Is it a coincidence that this trend is ongoing on the watch of Donald Trump, whose tariffs and immigration roundups are pushing inflation and cutting into business profitability?

“Virginia families and small businesses are getting hit harder every day by Trump’s tariffs, with higher inflation and rising costs. The worst part is that our economy isn’t reeling from a natural disaster or a global financial crisis. This is happening entirely because of bad policy choices made by Republican leaders,” said Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents Northern Virginia in Congress, and served as the lieutenant governor of Virginia from 1990-1998.

Beyer also cited the hundreds of thousands of federal government layoffs impacting the Northern Virginia economy.

All told, the jobless rate in Virginia is up 0.8 percent this year, which trails only (gulp!) Mississippi, that bastion of economic activity, nationally.

The trends aren’t good at all – unemployment is up, labor force participation is down in the territory of pandemic levels, and it’s only going to get worse, because the bulk of the government and government contractor layoffs initiated by the Trump administration won’t hit the books until later in the year.

“Thanks to Donald Trump, Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Earle-Sears, Virginia’s unemployment rate is rising faster than nearly every other state in the country. Unfortunately, we have every reason to think it will get worse, as Trump’s purges of federal workers and contractors drive a surge in unemployment that may spread to other job sectors,” Beyer said.

Youngkin, who can’t run for a second term, because Virginia doesn’t allow governors to run for re-election, seems to think that he can be a player in the 2028 presidential race.

If he is to have any chance three years out, he’s going to need to get Earle-Sears, the MAGA nominee for governor, who is trailing Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger by double-digits in the statewide polling, across the finish line.

He’s not going to do it with quotes like this one from his office’s press release, which was an attempt to make the awful job numbers look, less awful.

“Continued strong business investment drives opportunities for all Virginians. With 267,100 more people working today versus the start of our administration and 246,000 open jobs available, Virginia has jobs,” Youngkin said in a statement in the PR. “This month’s reports reflect modest payroll growth, continued positive revisions in recent months, and strong labor force demand, reinforcing the resilience of Virginia’s job market.”

OK.