Recovering to pre-pandemic employment levels is expected to take longer in rural Virginia.
The good news for Virginia is that a full recovery in employment is expected by the summer of 2023, even earlier than that in metro areas according to projections from Moody’s Analytics. The bad news is that rural parts of Virginia aren't expected to see a full recovery until 2025.
John Provo at Virginia Tech says small metro areas in Virginia have an opportunity to anchor rural economies and bring in new money.
"Whether that's continued strength of higher eds in Roanoke and Blacksburg or other manufacturing ventures," he explains. "The Roanoke-Blacksburg-Lynchburg area is actually still a nationally significant and growing sector for transportation equipment manufacturing."
Terry Clower at George Mason University says the pandemic might open new possibilities for rural areas.
"For some communities, it might be the degree to which they can attract people who don't want to work in offices any more, our work-from-home remote workers," Clower says. "We're looking at those kind of opportunities or we're starting to explore that possibility."
Perhaps the most pressing need in rural communities across Virginia is broadband access, an issue that lawmakers plan to take up in the next session of the General Assembly, which starts next month.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
