When it comes to the jobs comeback from the immediate burst of COVID in 2020, Northern Virginia is ahead of the statewide average, although that may well be because fewer local residents lost jobs in the spring of 2020, according to new data.
With 1,490,200 residents in the civilian workforce this September, Northern Virginia sits at 109.6 percent of the 1,360,900 people with jobs reported in May 2020, according to non-farm-employment figures reported by the Virginia Employment Commission.
Statewide, the 3,929,000 residents employed in September, or 108.1 percent of the 3,633,200 counted as employed in May 2020.
The rebound has been greater in the private sector, largely because those who lost jobs in the early stages of the pandemic were in that part of the workforce. For September 2021, there were 3,216,000 Virginians employed in private-sector jobs, a total of 109.6 percent of May 2020, while the 713,000 in public-sector positions (local, state and federal government) stood at 101.9 percent of May 2020 rates.
In year-over-year data (September 2020 to September 2021), Virginia non-farm employment was up 1.9 percent, split between a 2.2-percent increase in the private sector and a 0.5-percent rise in the public sector.
In year-over-year data, Northern Virginia, which accounts for about 38 percent of total jobs in the commonwealth, reported an increase of 45,400 employed in September, up 3.1 percent from September 2020 and representing a whopping 62 percent of all jobs regained statewide in the year.
How this all breaks down locality-by-locality will become clear on Nov. 17, when the Virginia Employment Commission releases more detailed monthly data for September.