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Editorial
Employment
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An analysis of figures supplied by the Virginia Employment Commission leaves us with more questions than answers.
Knowledge of where the numbers come froip is not reassuring. The raw numbers for unemployment are probably , most reliable because they are based mainly on claims for unemployment insurance. However, a survey of 1,100 1 Virginia households, which may include some in Rappahannock County, to try to pick up those who are unemployed but not eligible for unemployment compensation, probably underestimates the number of citizens who are not working and would prefer to be working.
The numbers used for estimating the number employed may be more misleading. There are several major employers in the county who employ people from outside the county, i Many members of the professional staff at the schools are not county residents. About half the work force at the Aileen plant lives in Warren County. The Faith Mountain Company employs several people who live in Culpeper County.
No doubt the number of people who live in Rappahannock County but work outside the county is even larger. We wonder how figures for place of employment are “converted” to figures for place of residence.
The statistics do not include any information about those employed part time, who would prefer full-time employment. They do not include information on those formerly employed full time, who have become part-time self-employed consultants.
Mostly we wonder what happened to our work force. Why would a work force of 4,013 in June 1992 become a work * force of3,470 in June 1993, and why would a work force of 3,389 in December 1992 become a work force of3,047 in December 1993. \
We do not see any other indication that people are moving out of the county in droves. Rather we suspect that there are a few hundred people who would like to be considered part of the county’s work force and are not sure how to be included in the statistics.
At least we are left somewhat skeptical of statistics that show the unemployment rate has dropped from 13.9 percent in January 1992 to 3.5 percent in December 1993. If the figures that are derived for Rappahannock County seem this strange to us, how much stock should we put in numbers for the United States as a whole?
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