Well, here’s the official announcement: LINK

Just remember that you heard it here first…

I have a sneaking suspicion that Governor McDonnell will announce tonight the completion of the VPA lease of the Norfolk APM terminal. This is a great deal for both APM and the Port of Virginia. You heard it here first…

Yesterday, Governor Bob McDonnell had the pleasure of being able to announce that the Commonwealth of Virginia had been awarded Site Selection magazine’s 2010 Competitiveness Award.  Since its inception in 2003, the award is given annually to a state that excels in 10 criteria related to its ability to attract new companies, facilities and jobs.  2009 was an extremely difficult year for many businesses and Virginia’s ability to attract new business is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.  VEDP does an exceptional job of growing and enhancing Virginia’s economic base and this award is a great start towards getting them the recognition they deserve.

The Virginia Employment Commission announced yesterday the December 2008 employment figures.  Between November 2008 and December 2008, non-farm employment decreased by 25,900 jobs.  This decline brought the State unemployment rate to 5.2%, up from 4.6% in November 2008 and 3.2% in December 2007.  To paraphrase the words of William F. Mezger, Chief Economist for the VEC, the recession has caught up with Virginia.  There were, however, some bright spots in the release.

First, Virginia’s unemployment rate remains well below the December 2008 National unemployment rate of 7.2% – approximately 25% lower.  Second, many of the State’s MSAs are doing pretty well.  Danville, while having one of the highest unemployment rates in the State, did manage to add jobs and bring its unemployment rate down 20 basis points from November to 11.5%.  Several MSAs have unemployment rates less than 5%, including Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.  Northern Virginia, the state’s largest MSA, has the best unemployment rate at 3.9%, up from 3.5% in November 2008.

Finally, several sectors added jobs from November to December of 2008.  The trade and transportation sector added 3,600 workers.  Finance added 300 jobs and information added 100 jobs.  While these are not staggering numbers, or even as large as in previous years, they do represent an addition of jobs.  In an economy where “flat” is the new “good”, “up” is the new “great”.

I, for one, am tired of the preponderance of bad news in the media today.  Every channel you watch or website you read has story after story of bankruptcies, closings, job losses, etc.  That’s why I have decided to add a new category to the blog – “Good News”.  I will do my best to pull out news tidbits that are positive and post them here.  So, here goes the first installment:

Yesterday, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced that LASCO Bathware has decided to expand their Halifax County manufacturing plant.  The Company will spend $1.7 million on the expansion and will add an additional 50 jobs.  That represents an 18% increase in their workforce.  More importantly, it means that those jobs will stay in Virginia.  The California based company conducted a thorough analysis and considered relocating the entire facility to Michigan, Texas or Washington.  In the end, Virginia won out and the jobs stayed here.

On the northern side of the state, Harris Teeter announced that they will invest over $100 million into a new 500,000 SF distribution center in Fredericksburg, Va.  This facility is anticipated to create 335 new full time jobs for the area.  Harris Teeter currently operates a distribution center in Spotsylvania County, Va.  It is unclear what will happen to that facility as the Company expands into the new facility.

So, there’s over 400 new jobs for Virginia in just 2 deals.  Across the state there are some extremely hard working economic development directors doing everything they can to bring new jobs to the state and keep the existing jobs.  Keep up the good work!

The Navy this week announced that it has decided to home port a carrier at Naval Station Mayport in Florida.  Currently, the entire carrier fleet is stationed at Naval facilities in Hampton Roads.  The Navy’s motivation behind the move is to diversify the fleet and prevent a Pearl Harbour type incident from diminishing our retaliatory abilities.

The decision was met with significant opposition from Virginia lawmakers who vow to continue the fight to keep the carrier fleet in Virginia.  They claim that this is a politically motivated last minute effort by the Bush administration to push this through before they leave the office.  Consequently, they have begun to pressure the incoming Obama administration to reconsider the decision.  As you would expect, Florida lawmakers support the decision and call it critical to the security of America.

To compound the issue, the decision comes at a time when the Naval has its own budgetary issues to contend with and moving a carrier isn’t cheap.  In the five years that it will take to complete the move, the Navy would have to spend over $550 million to prepare the Mayport facility and channel for a ship of this size.  In addition, it will remove 11,000 jobs and $600 million in annual income from the Hampton Roads economy.

If the safety of the fleet is truly the primary concern, I would think the $550 million could buy some significant surface to air defenses for the Hampton Roads area.  Plus, any spending on protecting the fleet in its current location could be allocated across the entire fleet, not just one carrier.

In its most recent report, the Virginia Employment Commission announced that Virginia Non-farm Employment had reached the second highest level EVER recorded.  The figure of 3,798,200 employed Virginia’s represented a year-over-year increase of 20,600 jobs, or 0.5%.  Those aren’t mind blowing numbers, but keep in mind that the national economy suffered a 0.8% job LOSS in the same 12 month period.

Other interesting statistics from the report:

• Virginia’s unemployment rate of 4.4% was the eight best in the nation.  Only 7 small, mid-western and rocky mountain states did better.
• Virginia continued to have the lowest unemployment rate among the 13 largest states with non-farm employment bases over 3.5 million.
• 3 out of the 4 best major metropolitan areas with populations over 1 million were in Virginia.
• The Washington/DC MSA was the lowest at 4.1%
• The Virginia Beach MSA was the third lowest at 4.3% (Oklahoma City slid in at number 2)
• The Richmond MSA was the fourth lowest at 4.4%

Virginia continues to be the #1 state to do business, even in a very difficult economy.