Unemployment has been on the rise in Virginia this year, and on Wednesday, we got more detail on how the pain is playing out in different parts of the state.
The percentage of Virginians without a job rose in June in nine Virginia metropolitan areas tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These include the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford metropolitan area’s 5.5% unemployment rate, up from 3.8% in May, and Lynchburg’s 4.2% unemployment rate.
Unemployment also rose across areas that include Northern Virginia localities. The unemployment rate in the metropolitan division that includes Arlington, Alexandria, and Reston reached 3.6% in June, up from 3.3% in May, the BLS said.
Eric Scorsone, an economist and executive director of the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center, told me that the biggest factors still weighing on Virginia’s economy are the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce and government spending.
“That obviously impacts certain parts of Virginia more than others,” Scorsone said. “Although there are federal jobs in most parts of Virginia, clearly it's hit Northern Virginia the hardest, and maybe to some extent, Hampton Roads.”
Other forces affecting Virginia’s economy are likely tariffs, which are expected to push up costs and have created uncertainty for companies weighing whether to make investments, Scorsone said. He added that consumers are likely holding back their spending, as well.
“It's a combination of things right now, but probably the federal piece is still the biggest impact on Virginia specifically,” Scorsone said. He added that a lot of uncertainty remains, making it difficult to say where the economy is headed in the months to come.
Liam Watson, a Blacksburg town council member, told me that he was not at all surprised by the Blacksburg area’s higher unemployment rate given what’s been coming out of Washington since January.
“The things that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been targeting are things that kind of go after the core of what supports Appalachia and what supports the Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Radford metro area,” Watson said.
Watson said attacks on that core include cuts to grant funding for Virginia Tech, the undermining of rural hospital infrastructure, and the gutting of public media. He also noted the recent layoffs at Volvo operations in the area.
“You've kind of got this sort of sense where we're all holding our breath and waiting for Donald Trump to take out the knife and start cutting again,” Watson said. “I think that's a feeling, not just here in Blacksburg, here in the New River Valley. I think folks across Appalachia feel that way.”
