New data shows mixed picture in Virginia when it comes to job growth

According to the latest federal data, Virginia's employment is growing strongly. But the picture is mixed in different parts of the state.

Charlottesville, Blacksburg and Harrisonburg are seeing some of the highest job gains in all of Virginia, with growth this summer up more than three percent compared to last summer.

“What all of these areas have in common is a strong, as we sometimes call it, education and medical economy,” says John Provo, executive director of the Center for Economic and Community Engagement at Virginia Tech. “So a strong presence of higher education and health care institutions that give them a base for growth that's happening in other areas, like the biotech sector in Charlottesville or the manufacturing sector in Blacksburg and Roanoke.”

Meanwhile, development is stagnating in Northern Virginia, where employment growth was less than one percent last year.

“We don’t have enough workers,” says Terry Clower, a professor of public policy at George Mason University’s Schar School.

“Unemployment here in the region remains at about two percent. So we're seeing constraints on growth that largely reflect the trend of internal migration that we're seeing in Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area in general.”

Northern Virginia isn't the only part of Virginia where job growth is stagnating. On the other side of the state, Bristol is also seeing less job growth than other parts of the state.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radiowas made possible with the support of Virginia Education Association.