Lynchburg-area unemployment rate drops below 7 percent in September

The jobless rate in the Lynchburg region dropped for the third month straight in September, Virginia Employment Commission statistics show.

The area’s unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in September, with 8,780 people reporting they were looking for work. In August the rate had been 7.1 percent, with 8,970 people looking for work, Virginia Employment Commission numbers show.

September was the first month since January to post unemployment under 7 percent.

Although the jobless rate was still higher than in September 2008, when it was 4.2 percent, the region did show job growth. There were 110,600 jobs on the region’s payrolls in September, compared to 109,200 a year earlier.

“Lynchburg was the only area that had slightly more employment this September than it did in September a year ago,” said William Mezger, chief economist of the Virginia Employment Commission. “It seems to be largely because of the colleges.  (Also) you seem to be getting a little employment there in the nuclear portion of your manufacturing.”

Every locality within the Lynchburg area had a slight decrease in unemployment except Amherst County, where the jobless rate moved from 6.9 percent in August to 7 percent in September. Mezger said that resulted from an increase of 16 people counted as unemployed.

Because of the size of the county’s workforce, small changes in employment numbers can shift the unemployment rate, he said.

The state average unemploy-ment rate inched upward from 6.5 to 6.6 percent due to high school and college students looking for jobs, said Mezger. The higher unemployment was concentrated in the areas of Richmond, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Unemployment fell from 7.4 percent to 7.1 percent in the Roanoke region.