In the fall of 2020, our team surveyed IT and Manufacturing sector leaders in the New River Valley. We also conducted interviews with selected leaders and reviewed sector economic data.  In partnership with Onward NRV, we presented our findings at industry roundtable events and compiled a final report. Of particular note was the uneven nature of the pandemic-related impacts across industries and even across companies within the same industry group.  In the region’s manufacturing sector, for instance, we found that roughly a third of the responding companies were straining (reducing workforce, decreasing production, declining revenue), a third were maintaining (relatively stable in employment, production, revenue), and a third were advancing (adding workers or increasing production or revenues). The top three concerns for companies were health and safety issues; workforce; and legal/liability concerns.

For the IT sector, the conditions have remained fairly stable for most company respondents. Few employers have reduced their number of employees, and a quarter has continued hiring. Almost all respondents expect the number of employees to remain the same or increase within six months.  However, over half of the respondents have seen a decrease in sales or in pipeline demand indicators for their products or services.

The top three shared concerns included financial, health and safety, and legal/liability. Several of the company leaders raised the shared challenge of how best to keep employees engaged and maintain the organizational culture in remote environments.

Charlie Jewell, Onward NRV Executive Director, summarized some of our findings in this commentary in the Roanoke Times.

This month, we continue recovery-related strategic planning projects with two regional economic development organizations, Virginia Industrial Advancement Alliance (VIAA) and Virginia’s Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA). We are also beginning new projects in Roanoke County and the town of Wytheville. We are preparing more resources related to economic recovery, which we will share here on the website. Lastly, we continue to speak with local and regional leaders and economic development officials across the Commonwealth and to share some of those conversations on the blog.