Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060022
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke Valley's unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in August, down from 4 percent in July and 4.6 percent a year ago, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Wednesday.
The Roanoke Valley is creating jobs faster than most other areas of the state, said the VEC's senior economist William Mezger.
"Just about everything in Roanoke is looking good," he said. "That area seems to be showing just about the best job growth."
The were 135,700 people at work in the Roanoke region in August, 300 more than last month and 6,400 more than a year ago.
Mezger said most of the jobs created locally in the past year have come in the business and health services fields. The business-service sector includes computer software and programming companies, as well as temporary job placement companies.
There were 400 new business-service jobs created in August and that field has grown by 2,400 hundred jobs - or 23.3 percent - in the past year, the VEC reported.
"That's quite a hot area," Mezger said.
He pointed out that some of the growth in the business-sector category is the filling of manufacturing jobs through temporary-employment agencies.
The Roanoke jobless rate remains more than a percentage point lower than the state's 4.9 percent average unemployment rate.
The economic outlook in the New River Valley also continues to improve, with the unemployment rate dropping to 5.1 percent in August, down from 5.7 percent in July.
Mezger attributed that improvement to an increase in car sales, which helps the numerous auto-related companies in Montgomery and Pulaski counties.
Overall, however, Mezger said unemployment rates are generally seasonal and that Virginia usually sees low numbers in the fall.
It's then, he said, that schools have reopened and taken students from the labor pool, the agricultural harvest is in progress, construction companies are rushing to get projects under roof before winter weather and the retail sector is gearing up for the holidays.
Roanoke Valley production workers earned an average of $11.94 an hour in August, down from $12.33 in July. Statewide, production workers earned an average of $11.17 an hour in August.
by CNB