THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060457
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Hampton Roads' unemployment rate dipped in August to 5.6 percent but remained higher than in other Virginia urban areas, the Virginia Employment Commission said Wednesday.
Shipyard and defense cutbacks pressed the Peninsula while the job base throughout the region expanded on the strength of the service sector, analysts said, noting that 13,000 more people were employed in Hampton Roads in August compared to a year earlier.
The region's unemployment rate of 5.6 percent resulted from 40,340 people out of work in August. That was down from 5.7 percent in July.
Virginia's jobless rate was 4.9 percent. The national unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in August, or 7.9 million jobless individuals.
William F. Mezger, senior economist with the Virginia Employment Commission, said jobless figures rose in the Peninsula cities of Hampton and Newport News. But he pointed out that growth in the service industry has offset some of the job loss from more traditional areas like manufacturing.
``Hampton Roads is in pretty good shape,'' he said.
More jobs in financial services and retail contributed to the increase in jobs, which rose 2.1 percent over the past year. Metzger said the region's job growth had been about 1 percent most years.
Of the five major metropolitan areas in the state, Hampton Roads ranked last. Northern Virginia, at 3.3 percent, had the lowest metropolitan jobless rate.
Virginia's unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in August from 5.1 percent in July due to seasonal factors, such as students leaving the labor force to return to school, the end of plant vacations and the start of farm harvests.
In Hampton Roads, Poquoson and James City County were among the cities and counties with the lowest jobless rates. Poquoson was 2.6 percent and James City County was 2.4 percent. ILLUSTRATION: Unemployment in Virginia
STAFF Graphic
SOURCE: The Virginia Employment Commission
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
Chart [on page D2]
LOCAL JOB MARKET GROWS
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: UNEMPLOYMENT JOBLESS by CNB