Looking for a job?

The state can help

Published October 30, 2014 by M.J. McAteer

David Tysinger of the Virginia Employment Commission runs the state’s Labor Market Information site, www.virginialmi.com. He says it is a tool for job seekers, students, educators, analysts and government managers.

The site includes statistics on wages and job openings broken down by county or city and by industry.  Searches can be done that compare jurisdictions.

For example, as of Sept. 20, Richmond had 12,422 advertised job openings with a mean wage of $45,337. Its highest average wage among the top 10 job openings was $102,666 (computer programmer), while sales and related workers could anticipate making $15,080.

Rockbridge County, in contrast, had 133 jobs at a mean wage of $29,484. Its highest wage was $119,565.79 (manager), while a nursing assistant could expect to earn $24,383.21.
The useful statistics don’t stop there.

In Richmond, only 7.61 percent of the openings had no minimum education requirement, while in Rockbridge County that figure was 40 percent.

Only 5.46 percent of Richmond employers would hire someone with less than a year’s experience, while lack of experience was not a factor in 19.35 percent of openings in Rockbridge County.

Site users also can compare industries within the same field. They can find educational and training programs and look for jobs posted by individual employers.