Governor Glenn Youngkin announces December jobs data, highlights importance of unleashing opportunity agenda

RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin Tuesday announced that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Local Area Unemployment Statistics (“LAUS”, or “the household survey”), the labor force participation rate, which measures the proportion of the civilian population age 16 and older that is employed or actively looking for work, remained unchanged at 66.9 percent in December.  

“Coming into office, Virginia was bottom third in the nation in job growth, and for our first 22 months we outpaced national job growth trends, rising to third in the nation in job growth, and it wasn’t by accident,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “I hope that my general assembly colleagues understand the tone that is set and the policies being pursued directly impact job growth and opportunity for Virginians. Therefore, we must continue to advance bold policy measures as I outlined in our Unleashing Opportunity budget to continue moving the Commonwealth forward. Reducing taxes, lowering the cost of living and cost of doing business for Virginians, strengthening our business-friendly environment and improving pathways from the classroom to the workforce must be our focus. To be clear, if we’re not moving forward, we’re falling behind.” 

According to BLS LAUS, Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in December increased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.0 percent, which is 0.7 percentage points below the national rate. The labor force decreased by 1,763 to 4,623,066; and the number of employed Virginians decreased by 8,395 to 4,484,295 as the number of unemployed residents increased by 6,632 to 138,771.  

.