Update on jobs--Roanoke

While I posted some information on Roanoke the other night, I find these figures much more telling:

Roanoke City
	Civilian		Annual %
Year	Labor Force	Change	Unemployment Rate
1978	52873	0	6.4
1979	50197	-2676	5.3
1980	50099	-98	5.5
1981	50330	231	7.2
1982	50384	54	8.7
1983	51338	954	7.0
1984	52341	1003	5.1
1985	50861	-1480	5.9
1986	52221	1360	6.0
	Total jobs:	-652	Average = 6.3

If Bern brought in 5,000 jobs as his campaign handout card states, then I’d like to know where they are in the state’s figures. The figures they have show a net loss of jobs from 1978 to 1986 of -652. Of course if you remove the 1986 figures (since Bern was no longer city manager), the net loss is 2,012—that’s right, -2,012. More jobs were lost than created during the period when Bern was city manager. As you can see, the unemployment rate also was higher for several years during his tenure as well.

Do figures lie? Not usually. Political candidates? That a different answer entirely.