State, Local Jobless Rates Rise in January

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, March 17, 2010

After about a year of holding steady, the Triangle’s local unemployment rates for January show a significant uptick, along with the rest of the state.

Virginia’s unemployment rate for January was 7.6 percent, up from 6.4 percent in January 2009. Triangle localities saw even more of a jump, with James City County rising from 6.1 percent last January to 7.9 this year; York County also increased from 5.3 percent last year to 6.6 percent.

Williamsburg also went down slightly but still remained much higher than the state average, from 19.5 percent last year to 18.2 percent this year.
No local companies experienced big layoffs or closings, according to officials in both counties.

January is typically a time where unemployment is higher due to seasonal and manufacturing jobs scaling back in the late winter, according to Donald Lillywhite, research analyst for the Virginia Employment Commission. Some of these industries might have lengthened or deepened their seasonal furloughs in January, he suggests.

The recession is still likely a factor too, he says. The unemployment rate, though, is a lagging indicator and will still be higher for a while even after the recession is ‘officially’ over.

The definition of an unemployed worker is someone who is actively seeking work, Lillywhite points out. An uptick in unemployment numbers could also signal that people without jobs are getting the sense that there are more jobs available and are now actively seeking work, where they might not have been the month before.

“The last few months, the number of jobs available on online job boards has increased by thousands,” he says. More available jobs might prompt people who had stopped to begin looking for work again, which would put them back on the radar for the VEC.