Thursday, December 03, 2009
Va. jobless rate hits 2009 low during October
October typically has low rates that reflect holiday hiring and other factors, an expert said.
The latest from The Ticker blog
The numbers show Virginia's 6.3 percent jobless rate in October is the year's lowest to date. The state's unemployment rate seems to have peaked at 7.3 percent in June, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
Bill Mezger, the commission's chief economist, said October is traditionally a month of low jobless rates -- a trend that reflects schools being in full-swing, hiring for the holiday season, agriculture harvests and other factors.
But Mezger also attributed the drop this October to the spending of federal stimulus money for projects on the state's many military bases.
"I'd say that is one reason Virginia seems to be coming out of the recession faster than many other states," he said.
Of course, not every region of the state shows evidence of recession emergence.
Although Martinsville's jobless rate finally slipped below 20 percent, at 19.7 percent it remained the state's highest rate in October.
Both the Roanoke and Blacksburg metropolitan statistical areas notched slightly lower jobless rates in October than September.
The Roanoke MSA, where the rate fell to 7.0 percent from 7.1 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 7.4 percent from 7.7 percent, includes the city of Radford and the counties of Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski.
In October 2008, both rates were substantially lower, of course. The Roanoke MSA's jobless rate then was 4.1 percent and the Blacksburg MSA's was 5 percent.
Last month, among the state's 10 MSAs, the Danville metro's jobless rate was the highest at 11.2 percent.
