Career numbers don’t tell the full story of Prince Edward

If you look at the employment numbers alone, Prince Edward’s employment situation is not good. According to government data released this week, Prince Edward ended June with an unemployment rate of 5.1%. It’s good enough to rank 131 out of 133 in Virginia.

Reports released by the Virginia Employment Commission show Prince Edward has the highest unemployment rate in the area. Charlotte County comes in at 3.7%, while Buckingham is also at 3.7% and Lunenburg sits at 3.3%. Cumberland County’s story, meanwhile, is a bit more positive. Its rate dropped to 3.2% from 3.5%, while adding 21 people to the workforce. Nationwide The unemployment rate remained stable from May to June at 2.7%.

But as we said, numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. It is understandable that Prince Edward’s employment rate drops in June, when the population decreases due to Longwood University and Hampden-Sydney College being out of school for the summer months. Also due to the school’s dismissal, some activities on campus are closed.

“I think it’s a function of Farmville/Prince Edward County being a two-college town where 15-20% of our population leaves during the summer months,” Stanley explained. “Unemployment rates in Prince Edward County rise 1.5-2% each summer and drop in the fall when students return.”

As an example, he pointed to the fact that Panda Express closes every summer in Longwood.

“Since our economy is so closely linked to the academic calendar, I have to feel that this affects the unemployment numbers,” he added.

The State reports what Stanley said. For the past seven years, not counting this epidemic, Prince Edward’s unemployment rate has started to rise in May and continued until August. Then we see the rate every now and then start to drop again in September.

More jobs are coming

When asked about state-by-state unemployment data, Virginia Workforce Certified Economic Developer Mario L. Camardella pointed to the local Virginia Employment Bulletin published for June.

Prince Edward County had 103 new jobless claims in June, 40 of them for housing and food service jobs. Health care and social assistance was the second most out of 21 for the month, followed by transportation and storage in third out of six, according to the VEC report. Unemployment claims in other services reached five, followed by three for the construction, management and support industries, two each in retail and finance and insurance, and one claim of wholesale trade, information and unclassified make up the rest of the unemployment. claim.

Of the 103 new applications, 64 were filed in Prince Edward by women, while 39 were men, the VEC report said. About three-thirds of these new applications come from 76 Black residents, while 21 are white, five others and one Asian.

Prince Edward has a total of 10,219 public employees as of June 2024, of which 9,699 are employed. In May, the district’s workforce was 10,227, and 9,803 of them worked.

The unemployment rate will change soon, as we reported earlier. More than 100 jobs will be created within the next six months as Wawa, Harbor Freight and Five Pillars Meats all open. All three are in various stages of construction, but the goal is to have all open for business by the end of the year.

What about Buckingham’s career numbers?

There were 34 new unemployment claims filed in Buckingham in June, according to the county’s VEC Community Profile report. Housing and food service jobs lost seven jobs, followed by health care and social assistance and other services for five years.

Construction, management and support and manufacturing each had three new jobless claims in Buckingham during June, followed by two sales and one in retail. of housing, professionals, educational services and unknown.

Twenty of the new claims in June were filed by women in Buckingham County, while 14 were men, according to the VEC. By race, there were 15 new jobless claims for each of whites and blacks, and four in the other category.

Buckingham has a total public workforce of 6,763 in June 2024, of which 6,515 are employed. In May, the district’s workforce was 6,720, and 6,499 were employed.

Buckingham County Executive Karl Carter indicated he was working to provide information on the county’s employment numbers but did not respond by deadline.

Looking at Lunenburg

There are positives and negatives to take from the latest employment numbers in Lunenburg County. According to data released this week, Lunenburg had 5,157 people employed at the end of June. That’s down from the same period last year, when 5,195 people had jobs in the county. However, it is a problem of the month before that. At the end of May, only 5,139 Lunenburg residents were employed.

One of the positive things we can take from that report is the fact that the number of workers is increasing. There were 5,335 workers at the end of June. In May, the district’s population was 5,294.

Lunenburg County Executive Mike Hankins said the closing of Pennington Seed and Sundies has hurt job numbers. But he is hopeful that he will be able to have some good news to talk about soon.

“The good news is that two new businesses may be opening soon – one in Kenbridge and one in Victoria,” Hankins said. I can’t give you any details because this is a work in progress.

Be careful: Herald editor Brian Carlton also contributed to this story.