Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 8, 1994 TAG: 9411180058
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Roanoke is stronger and stronger," said William F. Mezger, senior economist with the Virginia Employment Commission. He said the valley's jobless rate equaled Charlottesville's and was nearly as low as the 3.3 percent in Northern Virginia, where the proximity to federal government jobs means low unemployment.
An estimated 4,690 people in the valley were unemployed in September, the VEC said.
The region's relatively low jobless rate, however, was the result of schools reopening, which added about 600 people to the valley's work force in September.
The services sector added another 500 jobs in the private school and business service areas, Mezger said.
Construction remained at a high level, he said, while retailing was up by about 100 jobs. Health and business services remained at high employment levels.
"Roanoke is showing a little bit of growth in just about everything," Mezger said.
Statewide, the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point from August to September. The number of unemployed was down 7,300 to 162,000.
The 4.7 percent September figure equaled the April rate, which was the best of the year.
A better figure has been reported only twice during the current recovery - in October and December 1993, when harvest- and holiday-season peaks yielded rates of 4.5 percent.
State employment reached a new high of 3,034,400 people at work in September, surpassing the previous record of 3,032,500 set last June.
Mezger said September's "bright labor market picture" resulted from jobs generated by schools and the farm harvests, atop an already strong Virginia economy.
The average workweek for production workers was at a post-World War II high of 42.5 hours in September. This was 30 minutes longer than August and a full hour longer than September a year ago.
The average weekly and hourly wage levels of Virginia's 306,800 production workers also reached new highs in September. The average weekly wage of $480.25 was $10.69 above August and $26.24 higher than last year.
The hourly factory pay rate of $11.30 was 12 cents more than August and 36 cents greater than the prior September.
The state jobless rate, at 4.7 percent in September, was 0.9 of a point below the national September rate of 5.6 percent. The September Virginia rate is identical to the September 1993 state figure.
Virginia's labor force, the number of people working or actively looking for work, declined by 19,400 people to 3,436,200 in September, as students returned to school.
Fairfax registered the lowest jobless rate at 1.4 percent. Buchanan County, at 15.3 percent, was the highest.
The number of Virginia residents drawing unemployment benefits in September was 25,000, down from 29,000 in August and 26,000 a year earlier.
Initial claims for benefits averaged 4,000 a week in September, the same as in August but more than the 3,500 per week last September.
Cumulative initial claims for September were 18,361, compared with 19,450 in August and 16,472 at the same time last year.
Mezger said the fourth quarter is usually a period of high employment and low unemployment. Virginia's best unemployment rate of the year sometimes occurs in October because fall crops are being processed, builders are rushing to get projects under cover before winter and retailers are starting to build toward their year-end peak.
He predicted that the October unemployment rate should be in the range of 4.5 to 4.6 percent.
by CNB