Virginia's jobless rate for June unchanged at 6%

The slowdown in the economic recovery showed up in Virginia's unemployment figures for June.

The state's jobless rate held steady at 6 percent from May to June. Yet the number of unemployed people increased by 1,534 and the state's overall labor force declined by 2,848 after nine months of expansion, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Friday.

"We have had a deceleration the last couple of months," said Ann Lang, senior economist for the commission. "The recovery is just slow."

The 6 percent jobless rate is an adjusted figure accounting for seasonal fluctuations.

When not adjusted for seasonal factors, the state's jobless rate rose from a revised 5.9 percent in May to 6.3 percent in June. The commission attributed the increase to students and new graduates looking for work, which helped swell the number of unemployed by 17,674.

The seasonally unadjusted figures also showed nonfarm payroll employment gains of about 11,100 in the state. Yet June's job gains were the weakest in five months, and the number of jobs added in the state in May was revised downward from 18,800 to 14,200.

The leisure and hospitality industry led the hiring in June by ramping up its employment by 16,600 for the summer travel season. Other industry sectors adding jobs in June, according to the unadjusted figures, included manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services.

From May to June, employment declined in private education, government, and trade and transportation, including a decline of 2,700 in retail.

The commission reported a net gain in nonfarm employment of 3,500 jobs, or 0.1 percent, from June 2010 to June 2011. Employment in professional and business services had the strongest year-over-year gain at 20,400 jobs, a 3.5 percent increase.

"Overall, there certainly seems to be a stronger demand for placement and hiring needs from last year to this year," said Amy Holt, manager of the downtown Richmond branch of Robert Half International, a professional staffing firm.

"As far as month over month, there is still pretty much a slow, steady climb" in demand, she said, as some employers that had cut deeply during the downturn slowly add back staff or restart projects that had been on hold.

While the employment commission data show an ongoing trend of job gains, adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated a weaker employment picture in June.

Unlike the data reported by the state commission, the labor bureau uses historical trends to adjust its figures and factors out seasonal volatility in employment. Those adjusted figures showed a decline of 14,600 jobs in Virginia in June.

"We have made no real progress in job creation since the end of the recession," said Michael Cassidy, president of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a think tank that released a statement Friday pointing to the labor bureau data as evidence the state has seen a "backslide" in jobs.

The organization noted that Virginia's total employment of about 3.6 million is the same as at the end of the recession in June 2009.

"There continues to be a real lack of consumer demand in the economy," Cassidy said. "That is such a key component for employers in hiring and bringing workers back."

Yet Virginia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was still well below the national rate, which increased 0.1 percentage point in June to 9.2 percent. Virginia had the eighth-lowest jobless rate in June among the states, along with Hawaii and Iowa.

In June, jobless rates in 28 states and the District of Columbia increased, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Rates declined in eight states and were flat in 14. That's a change from May, when 24 states reported falling unemployment rates.

According to a report released this week by IHS Global Insight, only the District of Columbia and two states — Alaska and North Dakota — have exceeded their pre-recession employment levels. The report estimates that some states will not regain pre-recession employment before 2015, with Virginia reaching it in 2012.

"There is really a long way to go still, which is a testament to the depth of the recession," said Ana Orozco, senior economist for IHS. "Unemployment rates are expected to remain elevated for a long time."