Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 3.9% for February 2022; breaking the all-time record for the lowest unemployment rate recorded in state history for the 5th consecutive month.
“It’s not an exaggeration when I say right now, today, is the best time ever to get a great job in West Virginia,” Governor Justice said. “This isn’t a fluke or a one-off. This is record after record after record after record after record, and this is one case where repetition isn’t boring at all.
“We’re proving that it’s impossible to get tired of all this winning, because we just keep stacking up win after win,” Gov. Justice continued. “We continue to prove that the rocket ship ride I promised is real and it’s happening right now. All West Virginians should be incredibly proud of their state and incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to pull off.”
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has now decreased for 22 straight months.
The number of unemployed state residents decreased by 1,400 in February, while total employment grew by 2,000 over the month.
From April 2010 to July 2019, more than 43,000 people moved out of the state. However, from 2020 through 2021, net migration is up in West Virginia for the first time in decades, with over 2,000 people moving into our state, making West Virginia one of the top states in the entire nation that people are moving into on a percentage basis.
Governor Justice announced that, under his leadership, West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
West Virginia’s exports surged to $6.2 billion in 2021, a 37.6 percent increase over 2020’s total of $4.6 billion.
Trade statistics, released annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, show West Virginia also exceeded pre-pandemic export figures, reported as $5.9 billion in 2019.
Last year, West Virginia businesses traded with 147 countries; the most export markets in five years. Top countries for West Virginia’s products included Canada, China, India, Ukraine, and Brazil.
The strong performance in exports can be attributed to growth in several sectors, notably coal and plastics. Coal exports nearly doubled in 2021, from $1.4 billion to $2.7 billion, while plastics surpassed $1 billion for the first time since 2018.
Other sectors showing significant growth in 2021 include machinery and automotive parts, chemicals, aerospace products, and hardwoods. ■