Virginia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 3.6% in September, unchanged from August and 0.2 percentage point higher than a year earlier, Virginia Works, the state's workforce development agency, reported Wednesday, Oct. 21. The national rate was 4.2%.
The Black unemployment rate rose from 6.0% to 7.0% in September, but employment and labor-force participation also rose. The number of unemployed grew by about 231,000, roughly twice the 110,000 gain in employment.
The 4.1% unemployment rate counts only people actively searching. Broader measures put underutilization at 7.7%, and job searches are running longer than a year ago.
