Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 4.0% for November 2021; the lowest such rate recorded in all of state history.
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November’s mark bested the previous state record of 4.3%, set just one month prior in October 2021.
“The net net of the whole thing is that there’s never been a better time for jobs in the state of West Virginia than there is right now,” Gov. Justice said. “We want to continue to grow on this and attract anybody and everybody to come to this state.”
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has now decreased for 19 straight months.
For the 9th straight month, West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains better than the national unemployment rate. The number of unemployed state residents decreased by 2,800 in November, while total employment grew 1,700 over the month.
Additionally, for the 3rd time in as many months, West Virginia has set an all time state record low not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, dropping to 2.6% in November.
“There’s no human way that I could be more proud of this,” Gov. Justice said. “West Virginia is absolutely killing it; doing absolutely fantastic.
“We know there’s all kinds more to do. There’s people out there that are still really hurting, and we’re trying in every way we possibly can to reach everyone. But this is really good stuff,” Gov. Justice continued.
“Lots of people have had to push the right buttons. We made West Virginia more business friendly, we stood by our energy industry, we made historic investments in tourism and broadband, we revamped our whole transportation infrastructure through Roads to Prosperity, we all pulled the rope together and stayed together during this terrible pandemic, and we continue to try to make good, sound decisions as we continue to pump out surpluses that will enable us to do more and more goodness in West Virginia.
“There’s so much more right in front of us. But boy, I’ll tell you, it’s really been a wonderful turnaround and absolutely wonderful ride.”
During the month of October West Virginia also cracked the top 10 states in the nation for quarterly GDP growth and set an all time state record low unemployment rate.
Additionally, the Governor’s Roads to Prosperity program is the state’s largest ever investment in road maintenance and improvement; after 50 years of neglecting its roads, the state has committed more than $2 billion dollars to fixing them.
Teachers and state employees have received their two largest pay raises ever. The state’s Rainy Day Fund now exceeds $1 billion – another record and its public pension funds are better funded than they have been in decades. Thanks to Gov. Justice, Veterans now live in West Virginia tax free and senior citizens do not face state taxes on social security. ■