Economic Growth in Lynchburg
Strong and Sustainable

Economic growth is the lifeblood of a community and it is totally dependent on a strong, varied employment base. As many communities have discovered, it is very dangerous to depend on one or two major employers or industries for the long term.

The combined payroll from a large number of employers spread over a large number of diverse industries is the prime mover of any community. In this respect, Lynchburg, VA is very fortunate to have an economic growth rate that is steady and sustainable.

As an example, consider that Lynchburg's economic base is supported by a very strong healthcare infrastructure, institutions of higher education, financial services, large engineering and nuclear service firms, numerous manufacturing enterprises spanning a variety of products and retail distribution operations.

Under normal circumstances in a normal economy, the unemployment rate in Lynchburg swings between 3% and 5%. In the current economic downturn that hit Lynchburg in 2009, the unemployment rate ranged between 7.4% in January 2009 and 7.6% in May 2010. It did spike up to 8.7% in Jan. 2010 but settled back down over the next few months; not great, but not nearly as bad as that experienced by many similar sized communities across the country.

From the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, we see that the employment base has been an almost rock solid 114 thousand people for the last six months with the decade low being 105,729 in September 2001 and peaking at 120,797 in July 2008.

Comparing Lynchburg with the rest of Virginia and the whole United States, Forbes Magazine ranked Lynchburg the 5th best place in Virginia for business in 2006, with Virginia being the best state in the country for business.

In all fairness, it should be noted that Forbes only surveyed six cities in Virginia and most were in "Northern Virginia". In the same Forbes survey, Lynchburg achieved the rank 109 in the whole nation; not bad for a city of about 74,000 people as of 2009.

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From the News and Advance, the Lynchburg daily newspaper, as of February 2009, the top twelve employers, ranked by number of people employed were:

As was mentioned earlier, the economic base of manufacturing and technical companies is spread over a very diverse number of industries and contributes significantly to the economic growth of the city.

Also from the News and Advance, the top fourteen employers as of February 2009 in the manufacturing and technical areas, in alphabetical order, with their number of employees and business activity, were:

The website of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce has a more comprehensive list of the areas major employers with active links to the website of each company with their employment section as the landing page.

Whether looking for employment on not, it is still worth a visit to the Chamber's site. While you are there, take a look at the Cost of Living table in their "Lynchburg Area" drop down menu; Lynchburg beats out all the surrounding major metropolitan areas in the six categories that make up the composite cost of living index.

Average Annual Wage

After seeing all those employers in the lists above, one might wonder what the average annual wage is in Lynchburg. Well it comes in at $34,090. Perhaps that is exactly why business enterprises are attracted to Lynchburg but the fact is that more higher paying jobs are needed to keep its economic growth continuing on the upward path.

Employers most likely to contribute to building a higher wage base are those like Areva or Babcock & Wilcox which require more engineering and R&D talent. With a shift away from coal fired plants and more emphasis on nuclear power plants, perhaps those higher paying jobs will find their way to Lynchburg.

Lynchburg GDP

GDP, gross domestic product, is the value of all goods and services produced in a local economy. On that score, Lynchburg came in with an impressive GDP of $8.4 billion in 2008 and that represented a 3.3% increase over 2007. Again, the economic growth of Lynchburg seems to be on the right track.

Shifting Economies

There is some significant shifts going on in the domestic production base that could favorably affect economic growth in the future. For example, data shows that the GDP contribution from the natural resources, agriculture and quarrying declined by 34.6% between 2007 and 2008.

Where The Jobs are Going

This was offset by 11% increases in the professional and business services sectors; 10% increases in the health care and education sectors; 5.3% increases in the leisure and hospitality sectors and a small but acceptable 1.8% increase in the manufacturing sector.

As the economy continues to improve and organizations such as the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, Region 2000 and it's partners, and similar economic growth and development entities do their jobs, the City of Lynchburg, Virginia seems poised for a bright economic future.