RICHMOND— Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points in November to 3.4 percent, which is 2.4 percentage points below the rate from a year ago. According to household survey data in November, the labor force increased by 2,706 to 4,259,504, as the number of unemployed residents decreased by 8,627 to 145,605. The number of employed residents rose by 11,333 to 4,113,899. Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national rate, which fell 0.4 percentage points from 4.6 to 4.2 percent.

Virginia nonagricultural wage and salary employment, from the monthly establishment survey, rose by 13,600 jobs in November to 3,970,700. October’s preliminary estimate was revised down by 600 jobs, cutting slightly into that month’s job gain. In November, private sector employment increased by 13,600 jobs to 3,253,900, while public sector payrolls remained steady at 716,800 jobs. Within the public sector, federal and state governments each saw an increase of 300 jobs in November, while local government lost 600 jobs.

Employment rose in all but two of the eleven major industry sectors. The largest job gain during November occurred in leisure and hospitality services with an increase of 3,800 jobs to 361,000. The second largest increase occurred in trade, transportation, and utilities (+3,600 jobs) to 661,600. Other over-the-month job gains occurred in education and health services (+3,300 jobs) to 540,600; professional and business services (+1,100 jobs) to 785,400; manufacturing (+1,000 jobs) to 237,300; construction (+600 jobs) to 205,200; finance (+600 jobs) to 204,200; information (+100 jobs) to 67,700; and mining (+100 jobs) to 7,900. The only job loss during November occurred in miscellaneous services with a decrease of 600 jobs to 183,000. Government was the only sector to see no change in employment compared to the previous month. Federal and state governments both increased by 300 jobs over the month, while local governments lost 600 jobs.

Nonfarm Employment in Virginia*
Seasonally Adjusted

*Current month's estimates are preliminary.

From November 2020 to November 2021, the VEC estimates that establishments in Virginia gained 82,600 jobs, an increase of 2.1%. In November, the private sector recorded an over-the-year gain of 73,100 jobs, while employment in the public sector gained 9,500 jobs.

Compared to a year ago, on a seasonally adjusted basis, nine of eleven major industry divisions experienced employment increases. The largest over-the-year job gain occurred in leisure and hospitality, up 24,000 jobs (+7.1%). The next largest over-the-year job gain occurred in professional and business services, up 19,200 jobs (+2.5%). Trade and transportation experienced the third largest over-the-year job gain of 12,400 jobs (+1.9%). Education and health services employment rose by 10,600 jobs (+2.0%) and government employment rose by 9,500 jobs (+1.3%). Within government, only local government saw an over-the-year increase in jobs, up 10,100 jobs. Both state and federal governments saw a decrease in employment over-the-year, losing 500 and 100 jobs respectively. Other over-the-year jobs gains occurred in information, up 3,500 jobs (+5.5%); manufacturing, up 3,200 jobs (+1.4%); miscellaneous services, up 3,200 jobs (+1.8%) and mining, up 1,000 jobs (14.5%). The only two sectors to record over-the-year losses in employment were finance and construction, losing 3,900 jobs (-1.9%) and 100 jobs (-0.0%) respectively.

Total Nonfarm Employment in Virginia*

*Current month's estimates are preliminary.

Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment data is produced for ten metropolitan areas. In September, eight metropolitan areas experienced over-the-month job gains, one experienced a job loss and one was unchanged. The largest absolute job increase occurred in Northern Virginia (+4,100). Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News followed with 2,800 jobs added over the month. The next largest job gains occurred in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford (+900 jobs) and Winchester (+800 jobs). Harrisonburg and Richmond both gained 300 jobs over-the-month while Roanoke and Staunton-Waynesboro each added 200 jobs. Charlottesville experienced the only over-the-month job decrease, losing 400 jobs while employment in Lynchburg remained unchanged.

Over-the-year, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment increased in nine of the ten metropolitan areas. The Northern Virginia metropolitan area experienced the largest absolute job gain, up 50,600 jobs (+3.5%). Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford ranked second with a gain of 4,900 jobs (+6.6%). Other over-the-year job gains also occurred in Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (+4,300 jobs), Harrisonburg (+2,800 jobs), Winchester (+2,800 jobs), Roanoke (+1,600 jobs), Lynchburg (+1,500 jobs), Staunton-Waynesboro (+1,400 jobs), and Charlottesville (+1,200 jobs). The Richmond metropolitan area was the only area that experienced an over the year job loss, with employment falling by 2,900 jobs (-0.4%).

Not Seasonally Adjusted Data

Virginia’s unadjusted unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points in November to 2.7 percent, and was down 2.8 percentage points from a year ago. Compared to a year ago, the number of unemployed decreased by 117,923, household employment increased by 121,577, and the labor force increased by 3,654. Virginia’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to be below the national unadjusted rate, which declined by 0.4 percentage points in November to 3.9 percent.
            Compared to last month, the November unadjusted workweek for Virginia’s 154,300 manufacturing production workers remained unchanged at 41.5 hours. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production workers increased by $.01 to $21.16 in November and average weekly earnings increased $0.41 to $878.14.

            Technical note: Estimates of unemployment and industry employment levels are obtained from two separate monthly surveys. Resident employment and unemployment data are mainly derived from the Virginia portion of the national Current Population Survey (CPS), a household survey conducted each month by the U.S. Census Bureau under contract with BLS, which provides input to the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program (often referred to as the “household” survey). Industry employment data is mainly derived from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, a monthly survey of approximately 18,000 Virginia businesses conducted by BLS, which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data broken down by industry for the nation as a whole, all states and most major metropolitan areas (often referred to as the “establishment” survey). Both industry and household estimates are revised each month based on additional information from updated survey reports compiled by the BLS. For national figures and information on how COVID-19 affected collection of the BLS establishment and household surveys in April, refer to the BLS November 2021 Employment Situation press release for details.

The statistical reference week for the household survey this month was the week of November 7-13, 2021.

Files detailing November's unemployment numbers are available below: