Local jobless rates are showing improvement

Official unemployment rates in Wise County and Norton stood at 7.4 percent in August, the most recent numbers available.

According to Virginia Employment Commission statistics, 976 county residents were officially unemployed in August. That’s 250 fewer jobless people than in June, when the rate stood at 9.4 percent.

The county’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in August 2019.

Norton reported 125 people as officially unemployed in August, down by 47 from June. By comparison, the city’s jobless rate in August 2019 was 3.8 percent.

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 August, Wise County’s labor force was 13,238 people, an increase of 220 compared to June. Norton’s August labor force was 1,690 people, an increase of three since June.

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.