By Randy Arrington
LURAY, July 29 — On Wednesday, the Virginia Employment Commission released June 2021 Local Area Unemployment Rates that show Page County’s jobless claims rose slightly over last month, halting four months of consecutive declines.
With 596 claims for unemployment insurance among a workforce of 12,374 — Page County reported a jobless rate of 4.8 percent for June 2021. In May, that figure stood at 4.5 percent. Employment in the county totaled 11,778 for June — an increase of 344 over May. However, there were 60 more unemployment claims filed.
In June 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was subsiding from its first peak and many businesses were still shutdown, the county’s jobless rate stood at 9.8 percent with 1,177 unemployment claims being filed. This June, Page County had 923 more people employed than it did a year ago.
In January, Page County posted an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. The seasonal uptick in jobless claims during the winter had steadily declined over four months (February through May). The county’s 4.5 percent rate in May was the lowest reported since before the pandemic.
During the initial surge of unemployment claims filed in late March 2020 and early April 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the region, Page County saw a peak of 556 claims filed in just one week (April 4, 2020). April 2020 saw a total of 1,507 claims for unemployment insurance filed in the county.
The Lord Fairfax Planning District reported a regional unemployment rate of 3.8 percent for June 2021, an increase of four-tenths of a percent over May’s 3.8 percent — that represents the average increase for most jurisdictions across the planning district. The planning district reported a jobless rate of 7.6 percent in June 2020 with 9,495 claims for unemployment insurance, compared to 4,799 this June. However, claims did rise by 556 across the district over May.
Here’s a look at June 2021 unemployment rates across the region (state rankings that are normally provided here were not available from VEC):
• 2.9% — Madison County
• 3.4% — Rappahannock and Frederick counties
• 3.5% — Clarke County
• 3.6% — Rockingham County
• 3.9% — City of Winchester
• 4% — Shenandoah and Warren counties
• 4.8% — Page County
• 5% — City of Harrisonburg
Virginia posted a statewide unemployment rate of 4.5 percent for June 2021, up from 4.1 in May and 3.9 in April. One year ago, the Commonwealth posted a jobless rate of 8.9 percent with 387,307 unemployment claims. Those claims dropped to 192,555 this June, however that still represents an increase of 19,230 over May.
The U.S. unemployment rate for June 2021 stood at 6.1 percent, an increase of 0.6 percent from May’s 5.5 percent. Last year, U.S. unemployment for June was 11.2 percent.
For additional information on unemployment insurance in Virginia, access the VEC’s U.I. claims data dashboard (https://www.vec.virginia.gov/ui-claims-dashboard)
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