“WorkForce West Virginia is ready to help West Virginians re-enter the workforce,” said Scott Adkins, Acting Commissioner of WorkForce West Virginia. “We know that the past year has been incredibly difficult for many workers in West Virginia, and we want to remind people that we are there for them.”

Any weeks filed before June 19 that qualify under federal program requirements will continue to be processed.

On May 14, Governor Jim Justice announced that the state would cease participating in federal programs.

The move is an effort to resolve the “unemployment dilemma” currently facing state enterprises, Justice said.

“These companies really know that our employees should go back to work,” Justice said. “And I totally agree with that.”

The governor acknowledged that “some people are still grappling” with the economic impacts of the pandemic, but said the decision to end the additional benefits was aimed at preventing people from taking advantage of the system.

“The people of West Virginia will have access to thousands of jobs, right now,” he said. “And we need everyone to get back to work. Our small businesses and our economy depend so much on it.”

Justice launched the idea of ​​launching a return-to-work incentive program, which would have seen the state and the employer each pay $ 500 of a single bonus of $ 1,000 or employees who remained at work at least 90 days.

On May 25, Justice said it had reconsidered the details of the program.

“I see no reason to put additional pain on our small businesses,” he said. “We need to encourage people to go back to work, and what I’m trying to do now is just balance the state’s available dollars so that we can do that, coming directly from our state.”

According to information released by WorkForce West Virginia on May 25, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 5.8%, just behind the national unemployment rate of 6.1%. The number of unemployed state residents fell from 1,500 in April to 45,800.

Since April 2020, the state’s total non-farm employment has increased by 67,600. The increase in employment includes 27,500 in leisure and hospitality, 11,700 in commerce, transport and transportation. utilities, 7,800 in education and health services, 4,100 in professional and business services, 4,000 in construction, 3,600 in government, 3,200 in other research, 3,100 in operations mining and logging, 2,000 in manufacturing, 500 in financial research and 100 in information.

Alaska, Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi ended their participation in federal unemployment programs on June 12. West Virginia and 20 other states will end their participation on Saturday.

About 2.8 million people were receiving pandemic unemployment benefits in those 25 states as of May 8, according to information from the US Department of Labor.

The US Chamber of Commerce released a report on June 1 identifying what it calls an “urgent crisis” of unemployment in the country.

There are around half as many workers available for each job open (1.4 workers available / opening) across the country than there have been on average over the past 20 years (2.8 on average historical), according to the report titled “The America Works Report: Quantifying the Nation’s Workforce Crisis.”

“The labor shortage is real and it is getting worse by the day,” said Suzanne Clark, President and CEO of the US Chamber. “American businesses of all sizes, in all industries, in all states are reporting unprecedented challenges in filling vacancies. The labor shortage is a national economic emergency, and it poses an imminent threat to our fragile recovery and America’s great resurgence.

In May 2021, the United States Chamber of Commerce surveyed state and local chamber of commerce leaders about workforce challenges in their regions.

Ninety percent said the “lack of available workers” was the main factor slowing the economy in their area, with two-thirds saying it was “very difficult” for employers in their community or of their state to hire workers. Respondents were twice as likely to say that the lack of workers is slowing the economy than they are to say COVID is slowing it down. Less than 1% said it was easy to fill vacancies.

The US Chamber also interviewed economists from national trade associations about the workforce challenges in their industries. 76% of respondents said companies in their industry find it “difficult” (52%) or “very difficult” (24%) to hire workers at this time. These industries included agriculture, construction, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, and software.