Richmond leads country in one slice of job growth

Employment in the Richmond health-care and education sectors is up 10 percent from last year. And that is the highest percentage increase in those categories in the U.S., according to an analysis of mid-year Bureau of Labor of Statistics data by Buffalo biz journal Business First.

Richmond added about 8,000 jobs in health care and education since last year.

Bill Mezger, chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission, said Richmond is well positioned for growth in both industries.

“Richmond is fortunate to have institutions in both of those fields located here,” Mezger said. “Most have been here for a long time and have continued to grow with national demand for health care and education.” Read more

Will turn of calendar signal new page for Richmond area?

It’s a bit too early to call the bottom.

But as a new fiscal year begins, “green shoots” might be sprouting through the cracks. The pace of large-scale layoffs has slowed. In May, there were 1,066 mass layoffs in the region. None were announced in June or so far in July. And most of the remaining companies seem stronger – at least profitable – than those that went belly-up in the past 12 months (Circuit City, LandAmerica and Qimonda).

It’s also possible those green shoots are a mirage. More than 50,000 in the region are unemployed, according to May data from the Department of Labor. That is enough to fill the Diamond more than four times over. Read more