Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504080028
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The phone seldom rang when a Roanoke temporary-help company advertised a semitechnical manufacturing job at an hourly wage of $7.71. Tim Poch, owner of Interim Personnel, had to raise the pay to $8.67 to generate much interest.
``Everybody's working,'' Poch said.
The pressure for higher wages is reflected in the Roanoke metropolitan area's unemployment rate, which fell to 3.5 percent in February from 4.4 percent a year earlier and 3.9 percent in January, the Virginia Employment Commission said Thursday.
The Roanoke area in February outperformed the state, which had a rate of 4.5 percent, and the nation, which had a rate of 5.9 percent. The federal rate for March is to be released by the Labor Department today.
Only two Virginia metropolitan regions fared better. They were Charlottesville, which posted a rate of 2.8 percent, and Northern Virginia, which came in at 3.2 percent.
Roanoke's economy is bolstered by demand for goods and services from people throughout Western Virginia who drive to the valley for such needs as medical care and shopping. This has added to its stability in recent years and helps set the area apart as an economic bright spot, said William Mezger, senior economist at the employment commission.
``Were getting lots and lots of job orders,'' said Marjorie Skidmore, job services manager at the employment commission's Roanoke office. The job orders represent local job openings that companies and government agencies are trying to fill.
Skidmore said 25 newly posted openings, and the starting hourly wage, included the following: A part-time golf-cart driver, $5; a lawn-care worker, $6; a truck driver and equipment operator, $7; and an iron worker, $8.
Twenty-five orders in a day is about normal for this time of year because outside activities pick up, but at other times of the year, ``we have had weeks where we didn't get that many,'' Skidmore said.
During the 12 months ended Feb. 28, nonagricultural employment increased by 6,900 positions, or 5.3 percent, to 136,700 jobs, the state said. The fastest-growing segment was business, engineering and management services, up 16.2 percent for the year.
``We have a strong and healthy economy,'' said Anne Piedmont, research director at the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership. ``It's not a fluke. It's not a boom.''
by CNB