ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180060
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Roanoke-area shopkeepers helped to lower the area unemployment rate in November to 3 percent by hiring holiday workers early, repeating a trend first evident only a few years ago, state labor officials said Wednesday.
The jobless rate at one point rose in November, as people began looking for part-time jobs for the holidays.
They often did not find them until after analysts calculated the November jobless rate, said Bill Mezger, senior VEC economist. When the newly employed were finally counted in December, the hirings tended to lower the jobless rate.
In the past few years, the holiday-related plunge in the unemployment rate has fallen in November, because retailers have begun to hire help earlier, Mezger said. That happened again this year, and the combined areas of Roanoke, Salem, and Roanoke and Botetourt counties posted their lowest rate for November in the 22 years state records go back.
The region also posted the second-lowest jobless rate of any multijurisdictional region in the state, along with Northern Virginia. Only the Charlottesville region posted a lower rate, 2.8 percent.
The city of Bedford posted the state's fourth-lowest rate of any city or county of 1.7 percent, down dramatically from 3.6 percent in November 1994. The sharp decline was triggered by the number of unemployed people in Bedford falling 44 percent, from 88 to 49, Mezger said.
The VEC said the average weekly wage for manufacturing employees stood at $563.16 in November, up nearly 7 percent from a year earlier. The figure for the state was $506.52, up nearly 5 percent.
The number of nonfarm jobs in the Roanoke area stood at 142,100, compared with 3,109,200 for the state, according to VEC estimates.
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Charts by staff. Unemployment rates - November 1994by CNBand 1995. 1. Roanoke area. 2. New River Valley area. 3. State metro
areas.