Jobless figure remains high

Dickenson County’s official unemployment rate stood at 9.2 percent in June.

According to Virginia Employment Commission numbers, 433 county residents were officially unemployed in June. That’s up by 11 people from May. However, the county’s unemployed population was 576 in April.

By contrast, the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent, with 359 people listed as jobless, in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning to have tangible effects locally.

It is important to note that official unemployment numbers do not count everyone in the population who lacks a job.

The employment commission defines “unemployed” people “as only those that are actively available and looking for work.” In other words, that means people who are registered with the employment commission as job seekers. People who continue to live here, who need a job but who have given up on finding one, are almost certain not to show up in the jobless rate calculation.

The VEC considers a locality’s “labor force” to be anyone who is employed along with anyone who meets its official definition of “unemployed.” As of June, Dickenson County’s labor force was 4,689 people.

A May 2020 VEC analysis looked at 2019 labor force participation rates — the percentage of a county or city’s population that is in the labor force. Virginia’s lowest participation rates — each at less than 50 percent — were concentrated in the counties of Wise, Lee, Dickenson, Russell, Buchanan and Tazewell, along with Norton and Patrick County.