THE ROANOKE REGION OF VIRGINIA

We are not alone. The Roanoke MSA is one of 363 metro areas (out of 372) that registered a higher unemployment rate in January 2010 than 2009. The region’s 8.2 percent unemployment rate was higher than last year’s 6.5 percent. It also is an increase of 0.9 percent from December – the same rate of increase for both Virginia and the United States.

Higher jobless rates in January are not unusual, according to the Virginia Employment Commission, and are caused by cutbacks in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors after the holidays.

Despite being at its highest mark in a year, Roanoke’s unemployment rate remains below the national average of 10.6 percent and below many areas in the Southeast with which we compete. Roanoke has the fifth lowest unemployment rate in Virginia, behind Charlottesville (6.6 percent), Washington DC-MD-VA (6.9 percent), Harrisonburg (7.0 percent) and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (8.0 percent). The Roanoke rate is lower than all North Carolina metro areas. The unemployment rate for the 60-mile labor draw area is 9.4 percent.