Roanoke Region Sees Brisk Employment Recovery

The recovery is gaining steam in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, where 79 percent of employment lost in the pandemic has been regained as of June 2021.

For comparison, the Commonwealth of Virginia has regained 72 percent of employment lost in the early months of the pandemic. The Roanoke metro region experienced a loss of 16,000 jobs between March and April 2020, and 12,700 of those jobs have been regained representing a recovery of 79 percent of jobs lost.

Most economic sectors are witnessing strong recovery. Leisure and hospitality was the most severely impacted industry with 6,600 jobs lost. Since April 2020, 5,500 of jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry have been regained representing a recovery of 83 percent of jobs lost. The strongest recovery has been in trade, transportation and utilities which has surpassed 2020 employment figures.

The rate of unemployment in the Roanoke metro region is at 3.9 percent as of May 2021, which is down significantly from its peak at 10.7 percent in April of 2020.

With employment recovering and the rate of unemployment falling, economic recovery is gaining steam in the Roanoke Region of Virginia. With a strong recovery underway, the opportunity for growth has never been greater.