Many reports talk about a community’s UNemployment rate, but what about the UNDERemployment rate. Using Chmura Economics data (you can too by visiting www.roanokeva.gov/businesseq and create a profile) you can see this sharp difference in underemployment in the Roanoke MSA from 2001to 2007 compared to the Virginia rates during the same time.
Underemployment
| Roanoke, VA MSA | Virginia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2007 | 2001 | 2007 | |||||
| Labor Demand | ||||||||
| Low Skill | 60.3% | 59.6% | 57.8% | 56.1% | ||||
| Medium Skill | 23.6% | 23.1% | 23.0% | 22.2% | ||||
| High Skill | 16.1% | 17.3% | 19.3% | 21.7% | ||||
|
Labor Supply |
||||||||
| Low Skill | 51.7% | 50.5% | 45.3% | 43.7% | ||||
| Medium Skill | 28.7% | 28.6% | 27.7% | 27.5% | ||||
| High Skill | 19.6% | 20.9% | 27.0% | 28.8% | ||||
|
Underemployed |
||||||||
| Low Skill | -8.6% | -9.0% | -12.5% | -12.4% | ||||
| Medium Skill | 5.1% | 5.5% | 4.7% | 5.3% | ||||
| High Skill | 3.5% | 3.6% | 7.7% | 7.1% | ||||
Source: JobsEQ®Data as of 2008Q4
Last month the City’s job fair boasted 637 available jobs from about 35 employers. The takeaway from this is that it’s not that there are no jobs, but are job seekers going to (1) humble themselves and take a position “beneath” them? (2) acquire the skill sets needed to fill some of the oeon jobs or (3) leave the region. Let’s hope not option three. If you are in that boat, then please go to www.roanokeva.gov/connect and register to stay in touch with us.
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