Jobs growth lags behind influx of newcomers to area workforce – SoVaNOW: Home of The News & Record and The Mecklenburg Sun

Unemployment in Southside Virginia climbed in August for the fourth consecutive month despite modest job growth overall in Brunswick, Charlotte, Halifax, Lunenburg and Mecklenburg counties.

The August jobs report is the most recent issued by the Virginia Employment Commission. The VEC report was released Aug. 2.

All told, employers in the five counties added 332 jobs in August. However, more people seeking work entered the labor force during the same time, exceeding the rate of job creation. The combination of factors pushed up unemployment rates slightly in three of the five area counties. Two counties saw no change in their unemployment rates.

In July, Mecklenburg County reported 13,498 available workers and 12,975 persons with jobs. By August, the job total in Mecklenburg grew to 13,032, an increase of 57. But the size of its labor force grew to 13,576, an increase of 78. The net result was a 0.1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, climbing from 3.9 percent in July to 4.0 percent in August.

The last time the unemployment rate in Mecklenburg County topped 4.0 percent was in January 2023.

Halifax County added 284 jobs between July and August. But with 315 additional workers joining the labor force in that same period, the county’s unemployment rate ticked up from 4.8 percent in July to 4.9 percent in August.

Halifax County has not seen unemployment rates at this level since mid to late 2021 and early 2022 during the covid pandemic. The county’s average unemployment rate over the past three years has been around 3.8 percent.

Both Charlotte and Lunenburg counties experienced job growth that was outpaced, albeit slightly, by the number of workers returning to the labor force between July and August. Charlotte County added 16 jobs to its economy but its labor force grew by 21. The economy grew in Lunenburg with seven new jobs while 12 workers joined or rejoined the workforce. The unemployment rate in both counties remained flat for the period. In Charlotte County the rate stayed at 3.9 percent and in Lunenburg County it was 3.6 percent.

Brunswick County was the only local county to see both a loss of jobs and workers between July and April. As a result, the county’s unemployment rate soared from 4.7 percent in July to 5.2 percent in August. During that period Brunswick saw 28 workers exit the workforce, going from 6,056 to 6,028 in August. Payrolls slid from 5,774 in July to 5,712 in August, a loss of 62.

Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville were two locations that bucked the trend in Southside Virginia. Both the city and the county saw the size of the labor force grow along with the number of jobs. For the month, Danville added 824 jobs and Pittsylvania County added nearly 900 jobs.

In the United States the unadjusted unemployment rate for August was 4.4 percent and in Virginia the rate was 3.5 percent.