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Virginia’s economy moved upward in January for the third consecutive month, according to J. Gordon Gifford, editor of the Virginia Employment Commission’s magazine, Economic Indicators.
In an article in the February issue, Gifford said that 12 of the indicators used to measure the state’s economy in January were up from December, one was unchanged and five declined.
All 18 indicators were up compared with January a year ago. Most significant he said, was a rise of four percent in non farm employment. It has been three years since there was an over-the-year employment increase of this magnitude.
At 2.9 per cent in January, the total unemployment rate was its lowest since March 1970.
Four of the six leading indicators, those which show changes in the economic cycle earliest, improved in January. They were: the new hire rate and the total hiring rate for manufacturing production workers, the layoff rate, and average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance. The latter was down 18.7 per cent from the previous month to 1,522. This was the lowest total since July 1969 and was a drop of 38.2
97.2%