Department of Numbers

Beckley, West Virginia Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Beckley fell 0.3 percentage points in July 2021 to 5.7%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points higher than the West Virginia rate. The unemployment rate in Beckley peaked in April 2020 at 18.2% and is now 12.5 percentage points lower. You can also compare Beckley unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate July 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 5.4% -0.5 -4.8
West Virginia 5.0% -0.3 -4.4
Beckley 5.7% -0.3 -4.9
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with July 2021 data as August 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 8,389. There are now 5,697 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area.

Unemployed Persons July 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
Beckley 2,692 -115 -2,260

Number of Unemployed Persons

Beckley, West Virginia Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 West Virginia
Unemployment Rate		 Beckley
Unemployment Rate		 Beckley
Unemployed
August
2021		 5.2% — — —
July
2021		 5.4% 5.0% 5.7% 2,692
June
2021		 5.9% 5.3% 6.0% 2,807
May
2021		 5.8% 5.5% 6.2% 2,890
April
2021		 6.1% 5.8% 6.3% 2,949
March
2021		 6.0% 5.9% 6.3% 2,939
February
2021		 6.2% 6.2% 6.4% 2,981
January
2021		 6.3% 6.5% 6.4% 3,010
December
2020		 6.7% 6.7% 7.3% 3,459
November
2020		 6.7% 7.0% 7.7% 3,617
October
2020		 6.9% 7.4% 8.1% 3,810
September
2020		 7.8% 7.9% 8.6% 4,039

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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