Thursday, October 29, 2009
Roanoke region sees drop in its jobless rate
An economist said the state's modest changes did not seem to reflect significant forces at play.
The latest from The Ticker blog
The unemployment rate dropped slightly from August to September in both the Roanoke and Blacksburg metropolitan statistical areas but the jobless rate for each continued to be significantly higher than a year ago.
Meanwhile, four MSAs in the state had minor increases in unemployment rates but the Virginia Employment Commission attributed such rises primarily to high school and college students looking for part-time work.
The Roanoke MSA, where the rate fell to 7.1 percent from 7.4 percent, includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke. The Blacksburg MSA, where the rate fell to 7.8 percent from 8 percent, includes the city of Radford and the counties of Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski.
Bill Mezger, chief economist for the VEC, said the modest statewide change in numbers, either up or down, did not seem to reflect significant economic forces at play.
About 1,100 fewer people were jobless in September than in August, when the total estimated by the VEC was 272,000.
Virginia's jobless rate of 6.6 percent remained about 3 percent below the U.S. jobless rate.
Martinsville had the state's highest jobless rate at 20 percent. Arlington County, at 4.2 percent, had the lowest.
