Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990 TAG: 9003222649
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In the early seventies, the United States was contending with the effects of the Arab oil embargo, double-digit inflation and a shortage of materials. News reports at that time highlighted Roanoke's problems with higher electricity and telephone rates.
\ March 1973: Roanoke Valley unemployment is the fourth lowest in the country at 1.7 percent, according to news reports. State unemployment is 2.7 percent, and national unemployment is 4.3 percent.
\ July 1973: Continued growth is predicted for the rest of the year and a Virginia Department of Labor and Industry survey credits the latest trend - women's pants.
The new pants are outselling dresses two-to-one. The valley's apparel and textile mills respond by increasing payrolls and expanding factories.
Other factors favoring the economy include the new Lewis-Gale hospital; increased railroad employment; and tourism, which amounted to $34 million for Roanoke alone, the survey said.
\ October 1973: The labor market is described as tight.
\ January-March, 1974: Gasoline shortages peak with accompanying long lines at gas pumps. Despite a national energy crises, President Richard Nixon predicts a good economic year. Unemployment in Roanoke drops slightly.
\ July 1974: A College of William and Mary report says business conditions in the Roanoke Valley are sluggish but are up slightly.
\ August 1974: Nixon resigns. The jobless rate is 2.2 percent in Roanoke, 4.1 percent in the state, and 5.6 percent in the nation.
\ October, 1974: Joblessness is now up to 2.3 percent. A thousand textile workers, truckers and linemen show up in one week at the Roanoke office of the Virginia Employment Commission.
Inflation has hit. Food prices have steadily increased for a month.
An unemployed 52-year-old stroke victim and his epileptic wife say they can only afford to feed their children pinto beans and potatoes - staples of the 1930s Depression.
A 16-year-old says he can't keep his 1967 Nova on the road with what he earns from his part-time supermarket job.
\ November 1974: Layoffs now average 250 a week in Roanoke. In Martinsville, 5,000 unemployment insurance claims are filed in one week. Nationally, a United Mine Workers strike closes coal mines.
Even so, a Roanoke travel agent, a furrier and a Mercedes Benz dealer report booming sales.
Customers are either rationalizing that they aren't getting any younger; are looking for something to lift their spirits; or are smart investors, they say.
\ December 1974: Roanoke Valley unemployment reaches 3 percent, the highest in three years. State unemployment is 4.4 percent. National unemployment is 6.2 percent.
The coal strike ends. Norfolk and Western had laid off 1,200 workers during the strike but most were not in Roanoke. Retail sales are down 8 percent from the previous year. A Chamber of Commerce president concludes Roanoke's problems are psychological.
\ January 1975: National unemployment is at 7.1 percent; yet Roanoke is cited as one of three "pockets of prosperity" by The National Observer. Roanoke's unemployment for the previous December had been 3.2 percent.
\ March 1975: Roanoke Valley unemployment is at 6.2 percent, more than twice the level predicted by the state's employment commissioner.
Unemployment would eventually peak at 9 percent, then begin steadily improving, according to news reports.
A Richmond economist, recalling the 1974-75 recession, said Roanoke had endured the state's second-highest unemployment rate and had been significantly worse off than Richmond and Northern Virginia.
By 1981 the nation is again battling a recession. Roanoke yawns.
Economists say the Roanoke Valley, as expected, is faring better than the rest of the country. It is protected by a diversified industrial base in the southwest part of the state, and by federal and state jobs in the north. It will be a while before the recession is felt in the valley, if ever.
By the time this recession is over, some 3,000 jobs have been lost in the Roanoke Valley, according to Mary Houska, associate professor of economics at Hollins College.
\ May 1982: Mental health centers in Roanoke and Salem report that 40 percent of their 1,200 clients are seeking help for "depression and anxiety related to the overall economic conditions." Of those patients, 25 percent to 35 percent are out of work.
Fees are based on income, so most patients are helped for free or on a deferred-payment basis. The centers are contending with increased workloads at a time when budget problems have led to staff shortages.
\ June 1982: News reports say the recession "is becoming more visible" in the Roanoke Valley although there is evidence of a national recovery.
The Roanoke Valley's largest firms are shortening work weeks, laying off workers, or both. Hardest hit are the housing and furniture industries. People who never thought they would have to are knocking on the doors of charitable groups asking for food and shelter.
\ October 1982: Norfolk and Western Railway pumps about $40 million into Roanoke Valley construction projects, a move said to ease the pain of the nation's worst recession since World War II.
Roanoke also puts up $75 million in federal, state and local money for airport and downtown projects. Another $75 million is expected from the planned 1973 construction of Valley View Mall. Millions more are expected from projects by Kroger Co., Eli Lilly and ITT.
\ December 1982: Although Roanoke's business index for November had shown a flat gain of 4.1 percent from a year ago, economic indicators hint of better things to come.
The Bureau of Business Research at the College of William and Mary reports increases in building permit values, new car registrations and retail sales.
\ January 1983: Unemployment remains high. Business executives responding to a Roanoke Times & World-News survey said their work forces were cut by half the previous year. Even so, city tax revenues are up for the first six months in the fiscal year, says finance director Joel Schlanger.
"We are finally seeing some positive signs of some [economic] recovery," Schlanger says.
\ March 1983: Unemployment drops sharply in Roanoke and in the state. Housing and construction are up. Work weeks are longer. And consumers are more optimistic.
Economist Glen Bowman of Dominion Bankshares Corp. says recovery will be moderate but the recession is definitely over.
by CNB