Patrick County Unemployment Drops to 10.9% in December 2010
February 3, 2011
Feb. 3-Patrick County, VA unemployment dropped from 11.1% in November 2010 to 10.9% in December 2010. Patrick County's labor force decreased to 8,993 in December from 9,157 in November.
As reported in the Martinsville Bulletin
Thursday, February 3, 2011
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Unemployment rates dropped in December in Martinsville, Henry County and Patrick County.
The city’s rate remains the highest in the state.
The December unemployment rate in Martinsville was 18.3 percent, compared with 18.9 percent in November, according to Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) data released Wednesday.
Natalie Harder, vice president for institutional advancement at Patrick Henry Community College and treasurer of the regional Workforce Investment Board, said the drop in unemployment may be related to seasonal hiring over the holiday season.
Stanley Furniture stopped production at its Stanleytown plants in December, but Harder said she thought most of the company’s displaced workers left earlier in the fall. As a result, those job losses would not have caused a spike in December’s unemployment data.
Harder warned that “January figures will be very telling� of whether the area is gaining employment or if the recent drop was due only to seasonal hiring.
“We’ll see in the next unemployment figures whether that slight decrease occurred because of an increase in seasonal hiring or if we are starting to make slow gains in employment,� Harder said.
The unemployment rate was 20 percent in December 2009, the VEC stated.
“A year ago we were at 20 percent, so if you look at a year ago we have improved even if you account for seasonal hiring,� Harder pointed out.
In Henry County, the December unemployment rate was 12.6 percent, down from 13.1 percent in November. That also is lower than the unemployment rate in December 2009 of 13.9 percent, according to VEC data.
Patrick County’s rate also dropped in December. VEC data show that rate was 10.9 percent, down from 11.1 percent in November and 11.4 percent in December 2009.
In Martinsville, there were 1,063 jobless people in December, down from 1,108 in November. The labor force, which includes employed people and those seeking work, was made up of 5,824 people, an increase from the November figure of 5,346.
There were 3,082 unemployed people in Henry County in December, compared with 3,187 in November, according to the VEC. The labor force declined to 24,381 in December, compared with 24,411 in November.
Patrick County’s labor force decreased to 8,993 in December, from 9,157 in November, according to VEC data. There were 984 jobless people in Patrick County in December, compared with 1,019 in November.
