Still confused on Jobs

Last night at the 5th CD Democratic Committee annual dinner, Bern Ewert corrected earlier job figures that he had provided at earlier debates/meetings. Of course, there's still a problem. Bern said that, after going back and looking at the data, there were 16,000 jobs created in Roanoke while he was there as City Manager. The Labor Department figures I have say:

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
	Net Loss	-652

The overall change in the size of the labor force from 1978 to 1985 is -2012. I even added 1986—when Bern was not employed by Roanoke City—and there’s still a -652 balance in the labor force.

In the last 15 years (1990 – 2005), the rates for Roanoke City, Salem City and Roanoke County have fluctuated, but not near as much as that of Danville and its surrounding areas.

Annual Civilian Labor Force Data
Year	Roanoke City	Salem City	Roanoke County
2005	45,926	12,793	47,183
2004	45,159	12,622	45,909
2003	45,783	12,774	46,279
2002	47,128	13,197	46,831
2001	46,735	12,897	46,109
2000	46,266	12,854	45,572
1999	48,761	13,411	47,842
1998	49,578	13,751	48,456
1997	49,523	13,923	47,994
1996	49,863	13,982	48,403
1995	51,301	13,836	49,318
1994	50,638	13,592	48,572
1993	50,728	13,293	47,631
1992	50,422	13,148	46,773
1991	49,810	13,135	45,747
1990	48,469	12,680	44,725

Also note that the labor force figures for Roanoke City had fallen by 3752—a loss—from 1986 to 1990. From the data shown in the two tables, the civilian labor force figures have never regained their high of 52,873 in 1978—when Bern became City Manager.

So, how Bern thinks he contributed 16,000 jobs to the Roanoke City labor force I don’t know. Maybe he’s confusing Roanoke and Prince William County. I’ve already posted about the fact that Prince William County added over 20,000 jobs during Bern’s tenure there.

[To check labor figures for yourself, go to this site. Choose the Labor Market Analysis tab, then the Labor Force section. Select the Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment session option and choose your location from the A City or County option drop-down box.]