Department of Numbers

Beckley, West Virginia Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Beckley fell 0.2 percentage points in November 2020 to 7.2%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.9 percentage points higher than the West Virginia rate. The unemployment rate in Beckley peaked in April 2020 at 18.4% and is now 11.2 percentage points lower. You can also compare Beckley unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.7% -0.2 +3.1
West Virginia 6.3% -0.1 +1.2
Beckley 7.2% -0.2 +1.9
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with November 2020 data as December metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Beckley, West Virginia, National

Beckley, West Virginia monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Beckley, West Virginia Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Beckley peaked in April 2020 at 8,751. There are now 5,410 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
Beckley 3,341 -110 +822

Number of Unemployed Persons

Beckley, West Virginia Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 West Virginia
Unemployment Rate		 Beckley
Unemployment Rate		 Beckley
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% 6.3% — —
November
2020		 6.7% 6.3% 7.2% 3,341
October
2020		 6.9% 6.4% 7.4% 3,451
September
2020		 7.8% 8.6% 9.9% 4,676
August
2020		 8.4% 8.9% 10.1% 4,779
July
2020		 10.2% 10.0% 11.2% 5,227
June
2020		 11.1% 10.5% 11.2% 5,263
May
2020		 13.3% 12.9% 13.8% 6,503
April
2020		 14.8% 15.9% 18.4% 8,751
March
2020		 4.4% 6.0% 6.4% 3,073
February
2020		 3.5% 4.9% 5.1% 2,438
January
2020		 3.5% 5.0% 5.2% 2,476

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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