Virginia Employment Rate is Increasing

A day after he rolled out an unexpected budget surplus, Governor Bob McDonnell is excited about a new jobs report that he says will be good for Virginia's economy.  Six months into his administration, McDonnell says this is proof his job creation message is working.

The governor's optimism hangs on two sets of numbers; a federal jobs report that tracks employment since February, and a state analysis of more than 100 economic development projects that started when McDonnell took office. The McDonnell administration says Virginia added a net total of nearly 72,000 jobs since February.

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling (R) said, "It's just a beginning. It's just a start and it just is a snapshot, I believe of what we can and will accomplish."

Bolling was among those cheering the new job numbers, which also include state data that show 7,100 positions in the pipeline stemming from 110 economic development deals struck since inauguration day.

"This is not a victory lap," Bolling said. "We are very pleased by the progress we've made to date but we fully understand there is a lot of work yet to be done."

Virginia's unemployment rate sits at 7.1 percent, which is lower than the national average. The governor said these new jobs, most of which are in the private sector, are permanent.

McDonnell admits some of the job growth could be thanks to President Obama's stimulus program.

"There's certainly been some short term salutary effect of the stimulus," said McDonnell. "How much? It's hard to say."

The job growth occurred before new legislative business incentives took effect on July 1. Those programs will help reduce unemployment even more. The job numbers would rank Virginia third in the nation for job growth over this period behind Texas and Pennsylvania.

Democrats are questioning whether Virginia's job picture is as good as the governor has said it is.