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By Duncan Adams
981-3324
Virginia has added jobs since May 2003 at more than twice the national rate, according to numbers released Friday by the Virginia Employment Commission. Virginia's job growth increased 2.4 percent, comparing May 2004 with May 2003. The nation's growth rate was 1 percent. The Roanoke metropolitan area added about 1,900 jobs during the period, a job growth rate of 1.3 percent - slightly higher than the national rate but less than the statewide rate. The Roanoke metro area added jobs in trade/transportation, professional/business services, construction and other sectors. It lost jobs in the category of private education/health care and in manufacturing, finance and leisure/hospitality. "Roanoke went for about two years without any growth to amount to anything," said Bill Mezger , chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission. "Since the beginning of 2004, Roanoke has seen a little bit of growth." Mezger said a number of factors could explain the job loss in the category of private education/health care. He said Carilion Health System's decision to move operations from Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital might have played a role. He said numbers suggest some reduction of private practice employment and also some job loss in private education. The New River/Blacksburg area, which the VEC will begin including in 2005 as a new metro area, added about 1,600 jobs, said Mezger. Professional/business services jobs continued as the state's leading category for growth. Manufacturing employment continued to decline, with the largest job loss in textiles production. Among the state's metropolitan areas, Northern Virginia boasted the greatest increase. Job growth there was up 4 percent compared with May 2003 and Northern Virginia accounted for 55.1 percent of statewide annual job growth. Mezger said Northern Virginia's high-tech sector is growing at a rate faster than other national centers of technology. The Northern Virginia metro area benefits also, he said, from increased defense spending.
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