Thursday, October 01, 2009
Unemployment rates declined across Virginia in August
Virginia's jobless rate went from 6.9 percent to 6.5 percent and is the fifth lowest nationally.
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Unemployment rates, with a few exceptions, dropped across the state and the region from July to August.
The statewide rate declined from 6.9 percent in July to 6.5 percent in August. And that jobless rate was the fifth lowest among states in the U.S. and well below the national rate of 9.6 percent in August, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
Regionally, the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area improved from an 8.7 percent unemployment rate in July to 8 percent in August.
The Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area improved also but not by as much -- moving from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent. In August 2008, the jobless rate for the Roanoke MSA was 4.2 percent.
The Roanoke MSA includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke. The Blacksburg MSA includes the city of Radford and the counties of Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski.
Bill Mezger, chief economist for the VEC, said it is likely that the Blacksburg MSA rate improved more than Roanoke's because students, faculty and employees of Radford University and Virginia Tech returned to work in August. Although the Roanoke MSA includes Hollins University and Roanoke College, the effects of schools on employment is less dramatic, he said.
Mezger said school employment and students leaving the summer job market helped account for a lower jobless rate in August than July. He said communities near the state's many military bases are benefiting from construction and contracting work associated with the military's spending of stimulus funds.
But the lower numbers in August are related also, he said, to an apparent lessening of layoffs and closings across the state.
Northern Virginia communities continued to enjoy most of the state's lowest jobless rates.
Parts of Southside occupy the other end of the spectrum. Martinsville had the state's highest unemployment rate in August of 20.8 percent. Among MSAs, Danville was the highest with an August jobless rate of 12.5 percent.
