STATISTICS BUREAU REPORT: VIRGINIA WAGES LAG BEHIND

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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 24, 1993                   TAG: 9301260351
SECTION: NEW RIVER VALLEY ECONOMY                    PAGE: 31   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
STATISTICS BUREAU REPORT: VIRGINIA WAGES LAG BEHIND
Annual pay levels for workers in almost all Virginia metropolitan areas were below the national average in 1991, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month.
The Washington area, which includes Northern Virginia, was the only region where average annual pay was higher than the $25,729 national average, said Alan M. Paisner, the bureau's regional commissioner. Pay levels nationwide increased 4.3 percent over the previous year.
The area had the 10th highest pay level nationwide. Workers took home an average of $31,056, a 5.7 percent increase over the 1990 figure.
The next highest area in the state was the Richmond-Petersburg region, which ranked 71st with $24,265 in average annual wages. The area posted a 3.8 percent increase over 1990.
Workers in the Danville area took home $19,386 - the lowest level of all eight Virginia areas. The amount represented a 5.3 percent increase over the 1990 pay level.
For the Charlottesville area, the pay level was $21,783, a 3.5 percent increase over the 1990 average. In the Southwest Virginia-Tennessee area, the average was $21,278, or a 4.3 percent increase.
The other areas were Hampton Roads with $21,258, or a 5.1 percent increase; Roanoke with $20,932, or a 3.3 percent increase; and Lynchburg with $20,831, or a 2.9 percent increase.
The Philadelphia-based bureau gathered statistics from 320 metropolitan areas nationwide.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB