Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020095
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jobless rates are based on numbers collected during a single week of each month, in this case the week of July 11-17. But during that week, many of the state's manufacturing plants were closed for traditional summer vacations.
That considered, the higher jobless rates suggest a more distressed economy than actually exists.
William F. Mezger, the VEC's research economist, said vacation closings this July involved only 70 percent of the number of workers caught in plant closings in 1992.
And it was only half the number involved in July 1990, when the recession began.
For new claims for unemployment benefits, Mezger said, it was the lightest July in 14 years.
He said that indicates inventories are in very good shape. If so, layoffs should be fewer and business activity should increase for the balance of this year.
Meanwhile, employees who were not paid during the plant holidays applied for unemployment benefits.
The rate also was affected by the summer layoff of 10-month, non-teaching school employees.
That drove up the Virginia rate from 5.3 percent in June to 5.4 percent in July. Still, that was better than the 6.1 percent of a year earlier.
The Roanoke rate was 5 percent in July, up from 4.7 percent in June and 4.8 percent a year ago.
In addition to experiencing more plant closings than the rest of Virginia, Mezger said, Roanoke lost 300 jobs in trade because of the closing of the Sears Telecatalog Center. That center is expected to reopen under the new ownership of Retired Persons Services Inc., a division of the American Association of Retired Persons. The new owner also is expected to rehire some of the former Sears workers.
The region's figure also was hurt by closing of the Gardner-Denver plant and layoffs at ITT Corp.'s Roanoke County factory.
Mezger said First Union National Bank has done a lot of "rearranging" of employees instead of laying off the number of people the commission expected to be on the jobless rolls. Banking sector employment remained steady in July, the VEC said.
The service industry, especially health and business services, grew in the year-over-year comparison in the Roanoke Valley, Mezger said.
In the New River Valley, Pulaski County's unemployment rate of 13.5 percent was the highest jobless rate in the state, according to Mezger.
Statewide, only the construction and finance sectors added workers in July. Nonagricultural employment was down 26,000 to 2.85 million, but that was less than the usual July job decline of more than 30,000.
Total employment was off 6,100 to 3.2 million. With a small drop in the labor force of 900 to 3.39 million, the number of people unemployed increased 5,200 to 185,100.
The commission projected an August unemployment rate of 4.8 percent because personnel and students returned to school. Construction was at a high level and harvest activities were in progress. The August rate will be reported late this month or in early October.
Mezger said Virginia usually experiences its lowest unemployment rates from August to October.
by CNB