
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004040989
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STATE'S SALES GROWING FASTER THAN U.S. RATE

Virginia's retail sales for January and February grew at about twice the national pace, mainly as a result of mild weather, according to estimates from the Virginia Business Report at the College of William and Mary.

The college's Bureau of Business Research recorded a 10.4 percent increase in sales in January and a 12.8 percent rise in February. Nationally, retail sales climbed 5.2 percent in January and 5.9 percent in February.

The outlook for employment this year is a slower but still healthy rise in the number of workers, said Roy L. Pearson, bureau director. Pearson predicted the state's job growth rate will slow from its 3.3 percent increase last year to about 2.3 percent this year. That will provide 66,000 new jobs, he said. - Staff report

by CNB