THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409030517
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Even when you're up, you're down.
July employment improved in Virginia, but the buying power of the average Virginia family has declined since 1989, two reports released Friday said.
Unemployment in Hampton Roads decreased to 5.7 percent last month as high school and college students in the labor force found jobs or stopped looking, the Virginia Employment Commission said.
Overall, Virginia also showed improvement with 5.1 percent unemployment statewide, well below the national average of 6.2 percent.
Coinciding with release of the lower jobless figures, a new study announced that real income for the average family improved in 1994 following a steady dropoff from 1989 levels.
The median family income for the state in 1994 is projected to be $44,643, according to a study by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
After adjusting for inflation, the figure represents a 3 percent decline from 1989, when the U.S. Census Bureau reported median family income in the state was $38,213. If there are no major economic shifts, median family income gradually will increase in 1995 and 1996, said economist Samuel R. Kaplan. But while buying power has been improving, real income is not expected to reach the 1989 level until 1996.
Projected median family income for Virginia localities for 1994 is highest in Fairfax County in the Washington suburbs. Fairfax's $74,090 median figure is three times higher than the bottom-ranked locality, Lee County in southwest Virginia, with $20,186. All but one of the localities in the top 10 are located in Northern Virginia. The remaining top-10 ranked locality is Poquoson on the Peninsula, with $60,181 median family income.
Just as Northern Virginia has the highest median family income in the state, it also claims the lowest unemployment rate, 3.3 percent.
Hampton Roads won the opposite claim - the highest figure among metropolitan areas in the state. Despite that distinction, the area's unemployment rate declined 10.9 percent in July from 6.4 percent in June.
The number of unemployed in Hampton Roads was down 4,910 to 41,420 in July.
``The rate is down this month primarily because of students leaving the labor force,'' said Bill Mezger, senior economist of the Virginia Employment Commission.
During the summer, students flood the labor force, particularly metropolitan areas, looking for jobs. They cause unemployment to rise in May or June. By July, those students have found work or stop looking, causing the subsequent decrease from the previous month.
The jobless rate fell for the third consecutive month in Virginia. The seasonal flux also resulted in the state's dip to 5.1 percent unemployment in July. State figures are down from 5.5 percent unemployment in June.
Virginia's labor force was at an all-time high of 3,475,600. High employment levels were reported in construction, the travel industry, agriculture and among the self-employed.
Compared to a year ago, the nation's average dropped to 6.2 percent from 6.9 percent in July 1993.
The number of jobless in Hampton Roads is higher than the 5.3 percent in June 1993 because the region still suffers from the lingering effects of layoffs at the shipyards and defense-related employment, Mezger said.
``It's interesting that (employment) is still growing right around 1.5 percent when the state is growing at 3 percent,'' he said. ``It's different from other periods of defense build-down we've had. In the Korean War, the late 70s and Vietnam, the Hampton Roads economy for years had lost employment and had high unemployment. It's diversified enough that employment is growing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff Graphic
Unemployment in Virginia
Source: The Virginia Employment Commission
Hampton Roads Unemployment
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
Color staff chart
Family Income
Projections of 1994 family incomes in Virginia.
Source: The Universiy of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public
Service.
The Top Three
Hampton Roads
For copy of chart, see microfilm.
KEYWORDS: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE EMPLOYMENT INCOME VIRGINIA by CNB