Virginia’s unemployment rate is up, economist says more information needed as to why

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia’s unemployment rate is on the rise. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Virginia was the only state in the country to see a statistically significant rise in its unemployment rate in June.

“Is it a permanent move or a temporary? That is something we have to keep an eye for,” University of Mary Washington Economics Professor Amrita Dhar told 8News. 

Virginia’s jobless rate currently sits at 3.5% -- up from 2.9% in December. However, despite the steady rise, Virginia’s unemployment rate is still below the national rate of 4.1%. 

“Compared to the average, we are still doing fine, compared to the national average, but compared to Virginia's standards, yes, we are moving away from the average,” Dhar explained.

Dhar said the rise could have to do with cuts made by the Trump administration to the size of the federal workforce, but more information is needed.

“The data is still new. It takes some time to fully analyze the causes of such changes, so these are the initial suspects. You see correlations here, but how much exactly it’s contributed by this reduction in federal workforce size, it’s yet to be calculated or determined,” Dhar told 8News. 

While some other states did see a rise in their unemployment rates in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics considered their rates stable because they determined the chances were not “notably different” from the previous month.