ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060056
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
When nothing seemed to attract interest in his vacant cashier jobs, convenience store manager Steve Swiatek hung out his secret weapon - a six-foot banner with a dollar sign as big as loaf of bread.
The sign on RaceTrac Petroleum gas station and convention store on East Orange Avenue in Roanoke read: "Now Hiring. Winning Cashiers. Starting Salary $6.25 per hour."
Many retail businesses in the Roanoke Valley, especially restaurants, advertise their wages on roadside signs. But the pay seldom exceeds $5.
Swiatek said Monday between 50 and 75 people had applied for work since he bannered his storefront in early July. Traditional help-wanted advertising and the state job service hadn't produced that kind of result for him, he said. He had used the banner before with comparable results, he said.
The sign has done its job and will come down soon. He has four new cashiers and several strong candidates for additional openings.
According to state job officials, there's hardly any surplus of workers locally to fill lower-paying jobs. This was confirmed Monday by Bill Mezger, senior economist with the Virginia Employment Commission, as he released the June unemployment rate, 2.8 percent.
"The jobs and the number of people available to take them ... would appear to be about in balance," Mezger said.
The most difficult jobs for employers to fill are those paying less than $7 an hour without benefits.
The unemployment rate is based on an estimate of the number of people who live in Roanoke, Salem, Roanoke County and Botetourt County who are working and seeking work. The rate is the percentage of that total who are looking for work.
The rate is low because new and expanding companies have filled thousands of jobs locally in recent years.
The June jobless rate fell 2 percentage points below the state rate and more than 21/2 points below the figure for the United States.
Roanoke County ranked second in the state of 135 cities and counties with its jobless rate of 2.3 percent. Botetourt County's 2.4 percent ranked third lowest, and Salem's 2.7 percent placed 10th. The New River Valley's jobless rate was 5.2 percent.
The number of people collecting unemployment benefits was down 52 percent, from 1,475 in June 1995 to 715 this June. Mezger said he believes most of the people who stopped collecting a check found work, rather than exhausted their benefits. The assistance program pays benefits for up to six months.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STAFF PHOTO. RaceTrac gas station, on East Orangeby CNBAvenue, hangs its ``Now Hiring'' banner as a last resort. color.
Graphic: Charts. Unemployment rates. 1. Roanoke area. 2. New River
Valley area. 3. State metro areas.