February was almost a carbon copy of January. About the only difference was we had a little bit cooler weather.
Bill Mezger
The state unemployment rate probably won't go much lower than it is. I doubt it will get back to the mid-2 percent range that we had in 2001. Virginia is attracting people from other places. They are finding work pretty quick, but while they are looking for work, it does add to unemployment.
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The national economy is strong right now, and the Virginia economy is strong. We're better than pretty much any other state.
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All those jobs have simply gone away, disappeared.
jobs
Because of the weather being mild, we didn't have as big a run-up in unemployment from December to January as we usually do.
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Overall, it is a very strong figure for January. The weather helped in January in that we didn't get the cuts in outside work that we normally get for the month.
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These are good low rates in February.
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It's a result of a different age population mix. Richmond has some new things but it's mostly new condos and things like that. They don't attract children. They attract young professionals.
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In addition to that, Richmond has become a real medical center not only for Virginia, but for the upper South.
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That is pretty much the case all over [the country], and the Richmond area did have a decline.
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