Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993 TAG: 9305140186
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Over the 12-month period ending in March, the Roanoke area gained 2,000 jobs, mostly in health and business services, finance, insurance, real estate and local government, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday.
Problems related to the March snowstorm slowed Roanoke-area job growth in services and trade, construction and manufacturing, the VEC said. Layoffs in the banking and retail sectors had not yet taken place, the report said.
Despite the slack in employment compared with a year ago, the Roanoke VEC office had greater job activity, the normal spring pattern, said Marjorie Skidmore, VEC job service manager in Roanoke.
The office received word of 31 percent more job openings in the first 10 months of this fiscal year than in the 1992 period. And the number of jobs filled by the VEC from July through April was 15 percent ahead of a year ago.
Also, the VEC office received 100 more job openings in April than in March, the usual trend. The increase for May is larger, Skidmore said.
Her office is filling more than 66 percent of the jobs received from employers, a rate higher than the state average, she said.
The lowest percentage of job openings filled was the 23 percent of professional, technical and managerial positions, according to Skidmore. "We don't have a good match. . . . We need to build an applicant pool," she said.
Almost 80 percent of clerical job openings received were filled in the 10 months. That was the highest rate for a major job field.
High job placement rates also were reported for work in factories, packaging, material and handling, motor freight and transportation.
Skidmore said few Dominion Bank employees have filed for unemployment and many Gardner-Denver Mining & Construction workers found other jobs after the company was sold to new owners who moved the operations to Texas. She predicted the 40 retail workers to be laid off when Brendle's Stores Inc. closes its Valley View outlet in June will find jobs at other retail stores.
Almost 90 percent of the state's annual increase of 23,300 jobs was in the fast-growing services sector. The mid-March snow temporarily slowed job growth in construction, retail trade and transportation, particularly in Western and Northern Virginia, the VEC said.
by CNB