Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150032
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The proportion of the region's work force that was jobless in January dropped to 3.9 percent, 0.1 of a percentage point lower than December's rate and a full percentage point lower than the January 1994 rate. The Virginia Employment Commission reported the statistic Tuesday.
William Mezger, a senior economist with the VEC's economic information services division, said he attributes the January anomaly to a couple of factors: milder-than-normal January weather and the early completion of year-end furloughs in area industry.
Some Roanoke-area manufacturers - particularly furniture and apparel makers - typically furlough their employees at year's end, which normally shows up in January unemployment figures, Mezger explained. Apparently those furloughs were completed in December and workers were back on the job by January, he said.
In all other Virginia metro areas and in the state as a whole, the unemployment figures followed their historical pattern and were higher in January than in December. In four of the five metro areas, however, the rates were lower than a year earlier. The exception was Northern Virginia, where the rates this January and last were the same.
Statewide unemployment stood at 5.1 percent in January, higher than the 4.5 percent figure in December but 0.4 of a percentage point lower than a year ago and well below the national rate for January: 6.2 percent.
The statewide rate is the lowest since January 1990, when 4.4 percent of the work force was jobless.
The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in January fell to 38,706 statewide, the lowest level in six years, Mezger reported. In comparison, 49,203 claims for unemployment benefits were filed in December and 50,006 in January 1994.
The economy of the Roanoke metro area was very strong all through 1994, and that strength appears to have carried over into 1995, Mezger said. The number of people working in the Roanoke area in January was up 7,000, or 5.4 percent, from January 1993, he said.
``It's an impressive over-the-year increase,'' Mezger said.
Strong job growth in business and health services industries continues in the Roanoke area, Mezger said. Computer and other business services have been strong for 10 years, and Roanoke provides those services to the western third of Virginia, he noted.
Growth in retailing in the Roanoke area - primarily at catalog mail-order companies - also is strong, Mezger said.
The coalfield counties of far Southwest Virginia also continue to suffer from jobless rates of higher than 10 percent.
Because weather conditions deteriorated somewhat in February, Mezger said, he expects statewide unemployment to rise as much as 0.2 of a percentage point for the month, to around 5.3 percent. The rates usually fall rapidly in March and April, when outdoor work and the tourist business resume, he said.
by CNB