By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State unemployment rates continued to slowly drop in May, falling from 5.8% in April to 5.5%, data from WorkForce West Virginia shows.
For the month, employment increased by about 800, to 750,900, while the unemployment rolls dropped by about 2,300, to 43,600.
That still leaves the state with about 16,000 fewer jobs than it had in February 2020, the last month before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. There were also about 6,000 more West Virginians unemployed in May than in February 2020.
Gov. Jim Justice cited the falling unemployment rate during the state COVID-19 briefing Tuesday.
“We still have 43,600 people in West Virginia that are still unemployed,” Justice said. “We want to continue to whittle on that number and continue to see unemployment dropping.” …
