Top 50 employment numbers measure local economy

Employment numbers matter.

The size of a company's work force provides a good barometer of the vibrancy not only of that business but of the local economy.

The annual ranking of the region's Top 50 employers helps tell the story for our area. This year's list appears tomorrow in the Metro Business section.

The employers found on the 2009 list are similar to one the

Richmond TimesDispatch published a year ago, with typical exceptions.

The total number of employees is down -- but only by about 2 percent year over year. Three companies fell off the list, and three others joined the list.

The real effects of the current recession won't show up until next year, because many of the job losses occurred after our Jan. 1 cutoff date.

The Top 50 list is based on the number of full-time-equivalent employees as of Jan. 1. That's the way we have done it since we launched the special report 17 years ago. We're sticking with that cutoff to keep our annual comparisons consistent. Given that guideline, the layoffs and business closings locally aren't completely reflected in this year's list.

The total employment numbers for next year's Top 50 likely will be dramatically lower. At least two local companies -- Circuit City and Qimonda, both among the largest companies on the list for years -- won't be ranked next year.

Circuit City, once the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer, shut down all of its operations. It began doing so in late January by laying off workers at its corporate headquarters. The chain's last stores closed in March.

Computer chipmaker Qimonda began idling its manufacturing plant in eastern Henrico County in February.

Every spring for the past 17 years,

The Times-Dispatch has compiled the information to give readers valuable and useful information about one aspect of our local economy.

We think the list provides a good snapshot of where the jobs are and what the labor market looks like.

This year, for instance, Bostwick Laboratories Inc. made the list for the first time. The Henrico-based provider of medical laboratory services has grown from a small firm in 1999 to an international provider of medical diagnostics. The company's local employment has soared 27 percent from a year ago.

Getting accurate numbers of workers from some of the area's top employers isn't as easy as you would think.

Employers have made mistakes.

Macy's, for instance, forgot to count employees at the retailer's store at Short Pump Town Center for the 2008 list. That meant they weren't a Top 50 company last year.

The retailer fixed the error and returned to the list this year. (Also returning to the list is J.C. Penney.)

The Chesterfield County school system has provided us with figures for years but we learned only this year that the numbers were full-time equivalent budgeted figures for the fiscal years that end June 30 -- not actual FTEs as of Jan. 1. There's a big difference between budgeted numbers and actual FTE numbers and between Jan. 1 and June 30.

The full-time equivalent figure is a better gauge because it includes full-time workers and a proportion of part-time employees.

Other companies, such as Genworth Financial, were up front with us, telling us the Jan. 1 figure but also giving us an updated figure because of layoffs. The Henrico-based insurance and investment giant laid off hundreds of local workers.

Deputy Business Editor Gregory J. Gilligan has been the lead editor on the Top 50 list since 2005. Contact him at (804) 649-6379 or .