Local Unemployment Numbers Up Slightly in Feb.

By Desiree Parker Saturday, April 10, 2010

February’s unemployment rates for the Triangle are up compared to last year at the same time, but slightly lower than in January.

Two of the three three localities are up at least a percentage point over February last year, with James City County at 7.3 percent for February 2010, Williamsburg at 18.3 percent, and York County at 6.5 percent. Last February the localities were 6.5 percent, 19.1 percent, and 5.4 percent, respectively.

The numbers are slightly down from January, when rates jumped after holding steady for quite a while.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Virginia Employment Commission pointed out that an uptick in unemployment numbers could signal that people without jobs are getting a sense that there are more jobs available and they’re now actively seeking work, where perhaps they weren’t looking earlier (which means they wouldn’t have been recorded in the unemployment numbers).

In the Triangle, there were about 5,400 unemployed folks looking for work in February, out of a labor force of 69,300. In February 2009, there were 4,900 unemployed people looking for jobs. The numbers don’t account for those who were out of jobs and not looking.

There have been thousands of new jobs posted on online job boards over the past few months in Virginia, according to the VEC spokesperson, which might have contributed to more people deciding to look for work.

The state unemployment rate for February was 7.7 percent, up from 7.6 percent in January and up from 7 percent in February last year. The state numbers are still much lower than the national average, 10.4 percent for February.

Do the numbers mean good news or bad news when it comes to the local economy?

VEC Senior Economist Ann Lang says unemployment numbers are not a great indicator of where the economy is, because the numbers tend to lag behind other key indicators pretty significantly.