
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                    TAG: 9406300588 
SECTION: BUSINESS                     PAGE: D3    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: By PHIL MURRAY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940630                                 LENGTH: Short

AREA JOBLESS RATE ROSE TO 6.1% FOR MAY

{LEAD} Seasonal factors boosted the May unemployment rate in Hampton Roads and elsewhere in the state, but job growth remained strong here in areas not affected directly by defense cuts.

College students finishing classes and beginning the search for a summer or permanent jobs inflated the labor force and the number of unemployed in May.

{REST} In Hampton Roads, that pushed the May jobless rate to 6.1 percent, up from 5.4 percent in April, the Virginia Employment Commission said Wednesday. Last May the local unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent.

The Hampton Roads rate has been creeping up steadily for the past year because of ongoing layoffs at area shipyards and other defense-dependent industries. It remains the highest among metropolitan areas in the state.

Still, Hampton Roads has continued to add jobs in 1994 at a respectable pace.

``The area has diversified enough that the defense cuts are not enough to cause negative figures,'' said William F. Mezger, senior economist at the commission.

Total civilian employment in Hampton Roads was 1.5 percent higher in May than it was a year earlier. That growth rate is higher than the area's average for 1993. But it still is less than half of the statewide job growth rate.

As in past months, service and trade jobs accounted for most of the increase in Hampton Roads. Manufacturing employment was down 3.1 percent from the year-earlier level.

Initial claims for unemployment in Hampton Roads rose in May to 4,613. In April 4,422 people filed.

{KEYWORDS} UNEMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT RATE

by CNB