WORKING

Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: September 6, 2007

On the surface, the employment situation in the Charlottesville area appears enviable.

The region has maintained one of the lowest unemployment levels in the country in recent years, a mark that has hovered around 2.5 percent so far in 2007.

In May, the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area - which consists of the city of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson - recorded the ninth-lowest unemployment level out of the nation's 367 MSAs.

While the numbers mean applicants - particularly those for retail and service industry positions - are often in high demand, the area suffers from a high level of underemployment, with large segments of the population working positions for which they are overqualified.

Creation of well-paying, career ladder jobs has long been a goal of various economic development and workforce groups in the area.

Indeed, significant chunks of the workforce have seen their relatively high-paying manufacturing jobs vacate the area in recent years.

Between 1998 and 2003, nearly 4,500 manufacturing jobs were lost, as regional mainstays such as Technicolor, Badger Fire Protection, Comdial and ConAgra either left the area or significantly downsized.

Government jobs continue to make up most of the area's largest employers, with the University of Virginia serving as the region's single largest. The largest private business employer is State Farm Insurance, which has 1,500 local workers. Within the next two years, however, Wal-Mart is expected to overtake State Farm as the top private employer in the region.

According to the Virginia Employment Commission, education services make up the largest concentration of occupations in the area, employing 18 percent of the region's workforce, with the health care sector coming in second with 16 percent and retail accounting for 12 percent.