Hampton Roads' unemployment rate creeps higher

The unemployment rate locally and statewide went up one-tenth of a percentage point in November, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Wednesday.

The Hampton Roads rate rose from 3.1 percent in October to 3.2 percent in November - the same rate it had in November 2006 - the agency said. Despite the increase, the region tied with Richmond for the third-lowest rate among major U.S. metropolitan areas in November.

The local change "wasn't of any great significance," partly because of the timing of the survey, a state economist said.

The survey of job-seekers normally would have been taken during the week of Nov. 18. To avoid coinciding with the week of Thanksgiving, when many people travel, the federal government moved it to the week of Nov. 4.

But that's when "everyone was looking for extra employment for the holidays" and would, therefore, be counted as unemployed, said William Mezger, chief economist in the commission's division of economic information services. "If it had been about 10 days later, you would have had a lot more people on the payroll."

In South Hampton Roads, the jobless rates for November ranged from 2.8 percent in Virginia Beach to 4.3 percent in Portsmouth.

The rates increased one-tenth of a percentage point from October in Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. Norfolk and Portsmouth experienced a 0.3-percentage-point increase.

Chesapeake was the only city in South Hampton Roads to have its jobless rate decline from November 2006. Mezger attributed that to seasonal layoffs in 2006 at Ford Motor Co.'s Norfolk plant, which closed in June.

In Virginia, the jobless rate inched up to 3.0 percent in November from 2.9 percent in October. It stood at 2.8 percent in November 2006.

National figures for December have already been released. The U.S. unemployment rate was 5.0 percent last month, a two-year, seasonally adjusted high.

Mezger said he didn't expect the local and state unemployment rates to follow the national trend in December. In fact, he said, they may drop.

That's because two national trends pushing up joblessness in December - layoffs of auto-workers and troubles in the real estate industry - have had less of an effect in Virginia, Mezger said.

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com