Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994                   TAG: 9403170175
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JANUARY IS KIND TO JOBLESS RATES

The state's jobless rate in January jumped 1 percentage point from December to 5.5 percent. That rate, however, was 0.6 of a percentage lower than a year ago, making it the lowest January for unemployment in four years.

In the New River Valley, the overall unemployment rate improved so much - from 6 percent a year ago to 4.9 percent in January - that William Mezger, a senior economist with the employment commission, said the figure almost surely would be subject to adjustment by next month.

``That's quite a bit lower than we've been carrying them,'' Mezger said. ``It's too high in the western part of the area and too low in the eastern part.''

Pulaski County's unemployment rate, for instance, dropped from 8 percent a year ago to 6.2 percent; Radford dropped from 5.5 percent to 4.3 percent; Floyd County's rate plunged from 10.5 percent to 6.4 percent.

The apparently wayward figures - and the fact the January report comes two weeks later than usual - is the result of U.S Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions that adjust for 1990 census undercounting and attempt to include underemployed and part-time workers.

Unemployment rates traditionally increase significantly from December to January. Retail stores lay off the extra staff they hired for the holiday rush, and construction projects often are put on hold because of the weather.

Considering the month, Mezger said, Virginia fared well in January.